Millennium Magic
by Daricio
Summary: HPYGO Crossover! Harry tries to get to school, only to find that Hogwarts has disappeared! The evil magic is coming from Domino City, so he goes to track it down. Will he find the culprit in time? Or will the world fall into shadow? o0 Completed! 0o
1. The Beginning

Hello, readers!!! ^_^  
  
Yes, yes, I know, I know... I'm already working on about fifty other fics, but I just got the bestest idea!  
  
I've been wanting to do a HarryPotter/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover for a while now, but couldn't figure out how to make it different than everybody else's fics! Well, I finally came up with something... And this is it!  
  
I have it in the Harry Potter section becasue it's going to be mostly from Harry's POV, but because I'm addicted to Yu-Gi-Oh, it will have several Yugi POV's.  
  
Hope you like my new idea! Read on!  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Harry Potter was very happy. It was that time of year again. The time for him to go back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
He had spent the last bit of the summer break with the Weasley family, which was better than staying with the Dursleys, but he would rather be at Hogwarts with all of his friends. Which was why he was now running full blast at the barrier to get to platform 9 3/4.Platform 9 3/4 was a wizard train, the Hogwarts Express, located between platforms 9 and 10 at the Kings Cross Station.  
  
He went through the barrier, which was magically disguised to look just like a wall, then quickly got out of the way so that he wouldn't get hit by Ron who was coming through right behind him.  
  
Ron came through the barrier, grinning at Harry. "Let's go!" He shouted enthusiastically.  
  
They quickly got on board the train, then searched for an empty compartment, looking for Hermione at the same time. They soon got both. They opened a compartment door, and there was Hermione.  
  
"Hey Herminone!" Ron said, sitting down across from her. She looked up from where she had been staring out the window.  
  
"Hey Ron! Harry!" She said, also grinning. "Good to be finally going back to Hogwarts, isn't it?"  
  
Harry nodded, sitting down next to Ron. "Tell me about it. You wouldn't BELIEVE what happened..."  
  
They sat chatting about stuff for about five minutes, then the train started to move. Harry checked his watch. It was exactly eleven. Right on time.  
  
The train rattled down the tracks as Ron, Harry, and Hermione caught each other up on the events of the summer, as they hadn't seen each other when buying their stuff at Diagon Alley.  
  
Bright day soon passed into night, as it usually did during the eight and a half hour trip. Soon, the train began to slow down. Hermione looked out the window and groaned.  
  
"We're not at Hogwarts yet! I've got a bad feeling about this!!! This is just like when we had to stop for those dementors!!!" She said worriedly. "I hope nothing has happened!"  
  
The compartment door flew open. Harry looked up into the worried face of... a wizard he didn't know.  
  
"Everyone has to get off here. Quickly! Hurry!" The wizard said, moving on to the next compartment.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances.  
  
"Wow... you were right." Harry said to Hermione. "Something has happened, apparently."  
  
They filed off the train, watching in disbelief as several house elves unloaded their stuff onto the ground next to the tracks.  
  
They all stared at the train for a moment. Had it broken down? Why had they stopped?  
  
Very soon, they all received an answer to their questions. The train, and everyone and everything that was still on it, simply... disappeared!  
  
Loud chattering from all the students erupted from the crowd, and all the Prefects had their hands full trying to calm everybody down, even though they themselves had no clue what was happening.  
  
One voice suddenly called out above everyone else's, causing everyone to quiet. "EVERYONE LISTEN!!!!"  
  
The crowd parted, and the wizard who had been on the train stepped forward. When there was no sound, he went on.  
  
"I do not know any more about this than you do, but I do know this. The people who WILL know something will be at the school. Hogwarts is only about a half a mile from here, and so we shall walk the rest of the way. Bring your baggage." He said, starting to walk down the track with a small suitcase in his hand.  
  
For a short while, nobody moved, then they all raced for their baggage and followed him down the track.  
  
When they rounded a corner that would let them see the school in the distance, there was a collective gasp. The school... No, not just the school, the entire schoolgrounds had disappeared, leaving behind an earthy crater. Even the lake was gone!  
  
The loud chattering was back as everyone raced towards what used to be their school.  
  
"Where is everything?" Harry asked. He looked around him and sighed. In the mad rush, Hermione and Ron had been seperated from him, so he was talking to himself.  
  
There was suddenly a bright flash of light, and several people apperated on the grounds, looking just as surprised as the stuents felt.  
  
Harry stared. "You can't apperate on the grounds of Hogwarts! Something has happened... all of the magical barriers must have been removed!" He said, still talking to himself.  
  
He rushed over to the people who had apperated there, hoping to get some information. They were talking amongst themselves, ignoring everyone around them, so it was easy to eavesdrop on them.  
  
"This is horrible! Hogwarts!" One said.  
  
"There is powerful magic here..." Another replied. "Powerful... Even You- Know-Who couldn't do this..."  
  
"Or could he?" Someone put in. "We've been told that the Dark Lord has returned... why couldn't he do this?"  
  
"We have no proof that the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has, indeed returned." A voice that Harry recognized as Cornelius Fudge put in. Harry realized who these people must be. Representitives for the Ministry of Magic.  
  
"It's just too bad that Dumbledore isn't here..." Someone muttered softly, just loud enough for everyone to hear.  
  
There were nods all around.  
  
"Why isn't he here?" Harry asked.  
  
Everyone looked at him, and the several other people who had gathered around them, listening to their conversation.  
  
"He, and all the other teachers were... Inside the castle." Fudge explained, gesturing to the ditch that was before them. Everyone's eyes widened.  
  
"So... he's.... gone?" One of the students asked.  
  
Fidge nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so..."  
  
With that, everyone that had finally calmed down went into a state of pandamonium once again. Fudge sighed.  
  
He turned to the rest of the Ministry of Magic representitives, whispering softly. Harry was just able to catch the words, "Meeting at 5 tomorrow. Leaky Cauldron," Then he was swept away with the crowd.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***  
  
The next day...  
  
Everybody had, of course, been sent back home. There was really nothing else TO do... Harry hadn't been able to convince them that he had been staying with the Weasleys, so now here he was at the doorsteps of the Dursleys house on Privit Drive.  
  
He sighed. They would be furious! He decided to ditch his stuff by the side of the house, and take the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron to find out as much as he could about what had happened.  
  
He had sent Hegwig off with a letter to Sirius to let him know that he was okay.  
  
He withdrew his wand from within his robes, then stopped. "Ummm..." Suddenly he realized that he had no idea what to do. Did his wand have to be lit with the Lumos charm, like it had the night he had run away from the Dursleys after blowing up his aunt? Did it even have to be night? He hadn't tried to take the Knight Bus again since that night, and he really wasn't sure...  
  
He shrugged, then stuck out his wand, hoping it would summon the strange bus. There was a loud BANG! and suddenly, there was the Knight Bus! Stan hopped out, grinning at Harry.  
  
"Why, 'ello!" He said. "Nice to see you again!"  
  
"Erm... you too... Can I have a ride to the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked. Stan nodded.  
  
"Course you can! Hop on!" Stan jumped back inside the bus. Harry followed after him. He looked around. There was nobody else on, just him.  
  
"Don't get very much business during the day?" He asked.  
  
Stan frowned. "Naw... Normally we do... Just... what wit' what happened las' night an' all, the Hogwarts Express disappearing, nobody wants to ride in Wizard Vehicals no mores!"  
  
Harry nodded. "Oh."  
  
"'Choo still want a ride to the Leaky Cauldron, right?" He asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah." Harry said, sitting down on the edge of one of the beds. "Erm.. how much is it again?"  
  
"Eleven sickles." Ern said slowly from the driver's seat.  
  
"But for firteen, you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an ot water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice!" Stan added, his broad smile returning.  
  
Harry pulled out eleven sickles and handed them to Stan.  
  
"Alright! Take 'er away, Ern!" Stan cried energetically. With a loud BANG! They were off down the street. The ride to the Leaky Cauldron was fast and uneventful, with Stan talking about everything he knew about the disappearance of Hogwarts as they went... And he didn't know very much, so he just kept repeating what he knew several times over.  
  
Soon the bus came to an abrupt stop, sending the beds scooting forward and causing a tree to jump out of the way for them, and Harry got off, thanking them.  
  
"Bye then, 'Arry!" Stan said, closing the doors of the bus. Then there was another loud BANG, and the bus was gone, off again, searching for more people to pick up.  
  
Harry turned and walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Looking around, he spotted the Ministry of Magic people gathered in a booth. They hadn't picked a private one...  
  
Harry snuck past them, sitting down in the booth next to them, hoping that he would be able to hear what they were saying.  
  
Fudge spoke up. "Ok, we all know what happened last night, so there's no need for us to go into any big detail about it. The question is, what do we do about it?" He said, getting right to the point.  
  
A small wizard began speaking. "If we were able to make a device or a spell of some sort that would act as a magic tracking device, we'd be able to find whoever did that. It takes strong magic to do something like that, and that makes it fairly easy to track. I already took this into account and did a spell while we were at Hogwarts grounds. Last night, I made a map, of sorts. It will tell us what we need to know."  
  
"Good work!" Fudge said, sounding pleased, for once. "Let's see this Map."  
  
There were rustling sounds as the wizard pulled out his map. They all sat in silence, looking at it. Finally, somebody spoke up.  
  
"Where is this place?" He asked. "There's no name for it on here!"  
  
"Yes there is! It's right there!.... oh, right. I coded it in case it fell into the wrong hands. Um... somebody get me some parchment!" The wizard called.  
  
Tom, the bartender, walked up, holding a yellow sticky note pad. "I don't have any parchment on me at this moment, but I got this."  
  
"Thanks. It'll work." The wizard took the pad and began writing on it. As he finished writing, the wizards gathered grinned.  
  
"Alright, then. First thing tomorrow morning, we shall go to this place." Fudge said, ripping off the top sheet of the notepad and stuffing it in his pocket. "For now, let's go home..."  
  
The wizards got up and, single file, left the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
Harry got up from his chair. So now they knew where it was coming from... He wished that he knew... He went around and looked at the empty booth. The notepad was still sitting on the table.  
  
He looked around. Nobody was watching him. He grabbed the notepad and sat back down at his table. Leaning over, he realized that the last thing that had been written was still engraved in the top piece of paper.  
  
Grabbing a pen, he quickly began tracing the grooves, hoping he would be able to see where it was the Ministry of Magic was going.  
  
The first letter was a D....... the next, an O..... after a while, he finished, tore the top sheet off, then left the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
He took his wand out again and stuck it out. The loud BANG came, and the Knight Bus was back.  
  
Stan came out, looking curiously at Harry. "Giving me lots of business today, aren't you, 'Arry?"  
  
Harry shrugged, then got on the bus once again. "Take me to Number 4 Privit Drive so I can get my stuff, then I'd like it if you took me here." he said, showing him the yellow paper.  
  
Stan peered at it, then looked at Harry. "Ok 'Arry, but... I don't see whacha wantin in Domino..."  
  
**************************************************************************** ***  
  
That's all for now! Do you get what happened? ^_^ I'll see you next chapter! now it's time for me to work on some of my other stories! I'll come back to this one soon! I promise! ^^  
  
--Daricio 


	2. Harry meets Yugi and the rest

Hey again, all!  
  
Welcome to yet another chapter of the story, "Millennium Magic." !  
  
First off, one of my reviewers asked if Harry would be recieving a Millennium Item or a Yami. The answer for both of these, is No. Sorry. I'm not going to create an entirely new Millennium item simply for Harry, because, as peoples have pointed out in other Yu-Gi-Oh ficcies about Mary Sues, there are only SEVEN items for a reason, and if you change the number of items, you'd have to change history itself...  
  
And if he doesn't have an item, there's no point in giving him a yami, either... ^_^ So that's why...  
  
I will, however, go ahead and have him construct a deck, as he will be finnaly meeting up with Yugi in this chappie, and the deck will be a spellcaster one if you want. ^_^  
  
So, anyways............... How is everyone? Good? Good.... Okies... I, obviously, have nothing better to be talking about before we start the fic today, so let's just get right into it, shall we? Okies! Let's go!  
  
**************************************************************************  
  
The bus stopped off at number 4 Privit Drive, just as Harry had asked, and he quickly raced off the bus, shouting, "Stay there, be right back!" Over his shoulder.  
  
He ran around to the side of the house where he had ditched his stuff, and began sorting it into two piles: Stuff he could take, and useless things that he had only packed in there for school. (Meaning his Potions textbooks.)  
  
Once those were sorted, he pulled his dad's special cloak out of the trunk. Pulling it around him, he gathered up his pile of unneeded items and slipped into the house. Dashing up the stairs, (and almost running into Dudley, who was on his way down) he ran into his room and stuck the books under his bed, where they would, hopefully, not be found by any of the Dursleys.  
  
On his way down the stairs, he realized that he would be needing muggle money so that he would be able to get someplace to stay. Somehow, he didn't think there was a wizard inn like the Leaky Cauldron in Domino.  
  
He snuck into his Aunt Petunia's bedroom and took a fifty pound note off her nightstand. He'd return it later. For now, he needed it, and he didn't have any money of his own to spend other than his wizard money.  
  
"Fifteen years worth of late Happy Birthdays." He muttered to himself, shoving it in his pocket. Then he slipped down the stairs and out of the house again, throwing off the Invisibility Cloak and stuffing it back in his trunk.  
  
He picked up his trunk and hauled it over to the Knight Bus. Stan helped him heave it up the stairs, then Harry took his seat on one of the beds once again.  
  
There was a loud BANG, then they were off once again! Harry willed himself NOT to look out the windows, knowing that doing so would make him slightly sick, but he couldn't help it. He mentally needed to know where he was going, even if he couldn't make sense of it.  
  
The scenery whipped by, so fast it was a blur. Occasionally, things would fly in an upward direction, apparently jumping out of the way to avoid being hit by the bus, but mostly all Harry could see was the mass of color.  
  
Ern and Stan apparently wanted to get there in a real hurry so that they could run around the country-side searching for more customers... or whatever it was they do when they're not currently running the bus...  
  
He looked down at the floor of the bus. Fast driving was not something he was particularly fond of. For some reason, Stan's words from his third year kept coming back to him...  
  
"Can't do nuffink underwater."  
  
Harry gulped slightly. They had BETTER not be close to an ocean..... They had BETTER not....  
  
**************************************************************************** **  
  
About an hour later, Harry stepped off the bus, feeling just a little bit more than woozy from the trip. Stan helped him haul his suitcase down the steps, then the bus took off again with yet another loud BANG!  
  
The bus could fly...... lovely..... why hadn't anybody told him this? There was apparently an ocean between England and Domino.  
  
Not that he wasn't used to flying, it's just that... It's really hard to not be surprised about something when you've been looking at the floor for a long time, you notice the bus is going slower than it had been going, so you look out the window, and you're about a couple hundred feet up in the air and above an ocean.  
  
Harry took a few deep breaths and looked around. The city of Domino...  
  
It wasn't too much different than his own city... Except for one big fact. HIS city didn't have somebody in it that had made Hogwarts disappear.  
  
"Slow down" Harry whispered to himself. "Let's not jump right into that... First, I have to find someplace to stay..."  
  
He began to walk down the street, searching for a hotel... an inn.... something....  
  
But after walking around for a while, he had found nothing but an old, rundown, three-story place with a "For Rent" sign in front of it.  
  
Harry thought for a minute, then walked inside the building, lugging his suitcase inside with him. It was very dark inside. He peered around the extremely dim room, searching for a lightswitch. When he finally found one and switched it on, it lit a very small bulb that was hanging from a thin wire from the ceiling.  
  
"Hello?" He called out. "Is there anybody in here?"  
  
He listened for a moment, then sighed. There was nobody there.  
  
He went up the stairs, leaving his suitcase by the bottom of the stairs. He looked around as he went. He called out again on the second floor. Again, no response.  
  
Up the next flight of stairs to the third floor. "Hello?" he asked.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time you called. No need to shout. Whaddya want?" A raspy voice said from the shadows. Harry stepped forward, trying to see the man. He remained in shadow.  
  
"I-I'm here because of the for rent sign in front of here." he said as confidently as he could, though still stuttering a bit. "I'd like to rent it for a while."  
  
The man leaned forward a little, letting a bit of light rest on his face. He was an slightly old man, with a scraggly beard and an extremely small, slightly evil looking smile. (Think Filch) "So you would, would you?" He asked, showing some of his jagged teeth.  
  
Harry gulped. "Yes."  
  
The man nodded, then held out his hand. "It'll cost, ya know."  
  
Harry nodded as well. "Yeah, I've got money." He dug around in his pocket and pulled out the twenty pound note, handing it to the man.  
  
He stared at it for a moment, then began laughing. He laughed and laughed. Harry just stared at him.  
  
"What?" he asked finally.  
  
The man wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and handed Harry back the note. "Look here, son. This is America In America, you use American dollars." he said, grinning. "These is English pounds."  
  
(A/N Yes, I know Domino is supposed to be in Japan, but I moved it. So there. Nyah.)  
  
Harry stared at the note. "Right..." He said. He thought hard. What was he going to do now? He had nothing else but the twenty pound note and some wizard money. A few sickles, some knuts, and... Gold Galleons! He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Galleon.  
  
"I know this isn't American money, but... Will this work?"  
  
He gave the man the Galleon. He stared at it. As he did, his eyes widened. He looked back at Harry. "This gold?" he asked. "Real gold?"  
  
Harry nodded slowly. "I think so..." He had no idea what the coins were made of...  
  
The man licked his lips and grinned very widely. "Got any more, kid?"  
  
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out two more Galleons; the last ones he had. "Erm... two more..."  
  
The man nodded once more. "Alright. One of these for a week's stay, three for the month. Sound good?"  
  
Harry nodded, giving the man the other two Galleons. After a while of staring at the coins, the man looked up at Harry.  
  
"Thank you! Now, I must disappear mysteriously..." He said, taking a step backwards. Suddenly the floorboards underneath him groaned, then cracked with a loud CRASH! The man fell, yelling as he went.Then...  
  
CRASH! Through the second floor.  
  
CRASH! Through the first floor into the basement.  
  
CRASH! Through the basement's floor into the floor beneath the basement.?  
  
CRASH! Through THAT floor as well!  
  
CRASH! And THAT floor!  
  
CRASH!And THAT one!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
CRASH!  
  
Finally, there was the sound of dust rising up, followed by a soft, "I must work on my mysteriousness... I got the disappearance part down pat..." echoing upward from the very bottom floor.  
  
Harry looked down the hole into the darkness below. "Um... sir? Are you all right?"  
  
There was no reply.  
  
Harry went down the flights of stairs to the first floor. Just as he got there, the front door closed. He ran over and opened it again and watched in confusion and amazement as the man walked down the street, flipping one of the Galleons up in the air occasionally, as if he hadn't just fallen down about fifteen stories into the bottom floor of his multi-floor basement.  
  
Harry shook his head and closed the door. "That was weird." he muttered. He looked around the room. It wasn't exactly the best place in the world to stay, but it would have to do... He went over to his suitcase and pulled it over to a corner, where there was a dresser, and unpacked. Then he went exploring the house.  
  
He found that it had a total of twelve basement floors, all filled with tons of unpacked boxes that were duct taped shut. (And each with it's own hole in the floor, of course.)  
  
He went back up the twelve flights of stairs to the first floor and sat down on one of the couches. He sighed.  
  
"Alright, now that I'm here..." He said to himself, "What do I do now? Where do I start looking?"  
  
He sat there, pondering this for a while. He got up and began pacing the length of the room. Then he went up the stairs and started pacing on the second floor. Then up to the third floor for a little more pacing. Finally, he sat down on a couch up there and sighed.  
  
Suddenly, there was a tapping on the window.... Harry looked over in surprise.  
  
Why would there be tapping on a third story window? He walked over and opened it. He immidietly got knocked over by a large white mass coming into the room.  
  
"Hedwig!" Harry cried. Hedwig perched herself on the back of a chair, looking pleased with herself.  
  
Harry ran over to her and began idly stroking her feathers. She perched herself on his shoulder. "Good girl, Hedwig." he murmured.  
  
She gave him a friendly nip on the ear, then held out her leg, indicating that she wanted him to take the letter off of it.  
  
"Oh! Sorry..." He untied the letter from her leg. She hooted gratefully at him. Harry grinned at her, then opened the letter. It was from Sirus.  
  
Dear Harry:  
  
Wow, Hogwarts disappeared? That's kinda scary... I'm betting Voldemort had something to do with it, though I'm not sure HOW even he would do something like this... This is really powerful magic, Harry. I strongly suggest that you stay away from it. I know that you feel like you should be doing something about this, but do NOT go looking for Voldemort, hear me? Let the Ministry of Magic take care of it.  
  
Signed, Sirus.  
  
Harry grinned. Whoops... A little too late for that now....  
  
Although, hadn't people told him specifically not to go looking out for and going after Sirus Black? And guess who he turned out to be and what his intentions were...  
  
Harry shook his head.  
  
He looked back at Hedwig, who was looking at him expectantly. He walked down the stairs back to where he had unpacked his trunk and opened Hedwig's cage, allowing her to get food and water. Then he took out some parchment and a quill.  
  
He needed somebody to help him with the search, and if he told Sirus what he was doing, he'd get mad. He decided to write to Ron and Hermione. Hermione would know just where to search, and Ron was usually pretty good about figuring out where different types of people like to be. That and they were both his friends.  
  
He wrote each letter to them almost exactly the same:  
  
Dear Ron, (And in the letter to Hermione, it said, Dear Hermione, of course)  
  
Do not show this letter to anyone, Ron. I've come across some very interesting facts about the Hogwarts disappearance, and I need to talk about them to you and Hermione. I'm not at my house though. Meet me at the house I'm staying at, and bring your Hogwarts stuff... We might stay here for a while. Go to the street and hold out your wand hand. That will summon the Knight Bus. Tell Stan and Ern to take you to the house next to the shop in Domino city. It doesn't have a legible address... Send a reply with Hedwig before you go.  
  
From, Harry.  
  
He tied the two letters to Hedwig's leg. She gave him an encouraging nip, then flew out the window and into the starry night.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
When Yugi Moto got home from school, he went up the stairs and immedietly flopped on his bed. What a day....  
  
//I hate school.//  
  
//So does everybody else.// Yami replied.  
  
//I know.// Yugi replied. //That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to hate it.//  
  
//Well, don't get too comfortable, Yugi. You still have homework, you know.//  
  
Yugi shuddered. //I think I hate homework more than I hate school.//  
  
He sat up and looked out the window. He really didn't have much of a view out that window. It looked out into the alleyway below, and he could see into the neighbor's window when they left the curtains open. Not that there was usually much to see in there, either. He had the most boring neighbor in the world... He never put up any pictures, he almost never came into that particular room because he spent all his time on the third floor above, and there was no carpet or wallpaper anywhere. It was simply the most boring-  
  
Suddenly, his thoughts were interupted as a series of crashes resounded through the air and a blur flew by the window, falling from the floor above and going down into the floor below.  
  
"Grandpa!" Yugi called. "Jeff fell through the floor again!"  
  
He heard a groan coming from downstairs. "He ok this time? Or do we have to call 911 again?"  
  
The front door of the house opened, and Jeff walked out, tossing a coin up into the air every now and then.  
  
"I think he's fine, Grandpa..." Yugi sighed. "This time..."  
  
He looked back down at the lonely house next door, staring off into outer space.  
  
After a while, he realized that Yami was trying to talk to him. //Huh? Sorry, what did you say?//  
  
//Homework, Yugi... You still have homework to do. You shouldn't be daydreaming right now.//  
  
//Right. Sorry Yami.//  
  
//That's ok. Go do your homework.//  
  
Yugi sighed again, then went over and sat at his desk, pulling his math book out of his backpack.  
  
//I hate math...//  
  
//I know.//  
  
There was silence for a while as Yugi stared at his Math book, trying to delay starting on it. He really did NOT feel like doing homework, even more than he usually did... What with what had happened only a few nights before. What he had done... He hadn't told anybody, though. Not even Yami knew... But still...  
  
Yugi suddenly spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A movement in the window. //Looks like somebody finally rented the house from Jeff.// He commented.  
  
//What do you mean?//  
  
Yugi got up and looked out the window again, grateful for a break from his homework, even though he hadn't started it yet. There was nobody in the room across from him, but from the newly formed hole in the floor, he could see somebody on the floor below.  
  
//That's interesting.// he thought. //He doesn't look very old... only about my age.//  
  
//He's probably there with his parents. He'll probably have to go to school with you tomorrow, Yugi. And speaking of school...//  
  
Yugi sighed. //Yeah, yeah, I know... Homework.//  
  
//Yup.//  
  
He sat down again and finally started working.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
{The next morning}  
  
Harry sat up in the bed that was located on the third floor and looked out the window.  
  
The window had a pretty good view of the city, except that the roofs of the other houses kinda got in the way... Most of the houses around were two stories, and "his" was three. It was still a pretty sunrise...  
  
He looked at his watch. He had set it to Domino's time yesterday. It was.... 5:45?!?!?!?  
  
He flopped back down on the bed and sighed. Way too early to be getting up when he didn't have any classes or anything to be going to... In fact, he really didn't have anything to do all day...  
  
He should be out looking for whoever it was that had made Hogwarts vanish, but he had no idea where to look... he knew Domino city, but nothing else...  
  
Hermione would be able to figure out something, and Ron too...  
  
But they might not be able to get there for a few days at least! Hedwig was fast, but not that fast...  
  
So what could he do to get a lead?  
  
He thought. Who would want to make a school disappear? A kid, of course. Where would kids be right now?  
  
"Well, normal kids would be SLEEPING right now..." he muttered to himself. "Or getting ready for school, I guess."  
  
He blinked. School... He might not be in school, but the kids around here still were, unless their school had disappeared as well, which was highly unlikely, as the schools around here had no magic at them...  
  
He got up and began getting into his normal muggle clothes. If the person who did it was a kid, then the best thing to do would be to go to school with the kids around here and try to blend in... Observe what people were doing, what they were saying...  
  
Maybe then he'd get a clue.  
  
And there was NO way he was going to go to a muggle school wearing wizard robes. That would be just a bit strange, though he knew of some wizards who probably would...  
  
He grinned, remembering some of the outfits of the wizards who had gone to the Quidditch World Cup and tried to blend in as muggles.  
  
He was almost ready, when suddenly he realized something. He didn't have a backpack, like the kids around here had. He shrugged. He wasn't going to the school to get a good grade or to get an education; he was going to observe the kids...  
  
He went down the stairs and checked his watch again. 7:00. The school around here started at... uh...  
  
He went outside and stood on the top step in front of the house. He looked around. If only there was somebody else on the street who went to the school so he could just follow them...  
  
Just then, his wish was answered. Down the street came a young girl wearing all pink. Pink coat, pink mini-skirt, pink headband, even a pink backpack. She saw him standing there and waved. He waved back, not sure what else to do.  
  
"You just move in there?" She asked him, stopping in front of the walkway leading up to the door.  
  
He nodded. "Renting it, actually."  
  
"You starting school today?"  
  
He nodded again. "I'm afraid I don't know what time the school starts, though."  
  
The girl looked at her watch. "Um... It starts in about half an hour, but you'd better get going if you want to get there in time... I just gotta pick up Yugi, then we're going to school. Wanna come with us?"  
  
Harry nodded in relief. What a lucky break!  
  
The girl nodded back at him then said, "Alright, We just have to pick up Yugi at his house first so we can all walk to school together, then we'll go!"  
  
Harry nodded and followed her as she hurried down the street. He stopped at the end of the walkway when she turned into the... Game Shop next door?  
  
She knocked on the door and another kid with spiky red, black and yellow hair came out of it, dressed all in blue and wearing a blue backpack. He also had a golden upside-down pyramid looking thing as a pendant around his neck.  
  
The girl talked with him for a bit, then turned back to Harry and walked back over to him, Yugi trailing along behind her..  
  
"Where's your school stuff?" the girl asked him.  
  
He shrugged. "I don't really have any..." he admitted.  
  
"No transfer stuff from your old school?"  
  
He shook his head. "I. went to a private school before." he said. "And the records were, erm, lost..."  
  
The girl nodded. "Oh. I just realized that I don't know your name!"  
  
"I'm Harry. Harry Potter." he said.  
  
"I'm Yugi, and this is Tea." The shorter boy said, finally speaking up for the first time.  
  
Tea grinned. "Yugi Moto and Tea Gardner." She added, giving full names.  
  
Harry nodded. "Cool. Erm... Should we be going to school now?"  
  
Tea nodded. "Yeah. he's right, Yugi! Let's go!"  
  
The three began to walk down the sidewalk.  
  
Well, now that little problem was solved. He was on his way to the school, and he already had some friends! Couldn't get any better.  
  
Tea was very energetic and practically skipped as she went. She seemed to enjoy the prospect of going to school. This was not somebody who would be making schools disappear. But...  
  
That Yugi was a little quiet... And that pendant was kind of strange... But maybe that was just something that everybody in Domino did... Have the guys wear necklaces and stuff...  
  
Of course there was always a possibility that... He knew he had read somewhere that some magic people needed specific items in order to use their magic... And Yugi seemed... Well...  
  
The three were almost to the school building, (Harry could see it up ahead,) when suddenly two other guys walked up.  
  
"Hey Yugi! Tea!" one of them called out. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"This is Harry. He just moved here yesterday." Yugi said. Harry nodded. "Harry, this is Joey and Tristan."  
  
"Heya" Joey said, letting out a grin. Harry couldn't help but grin back.  
  
"Hello." Tristan said.  
  
"Hi." Harry returned.  
  
"Now where could Bakura be? School's about to- Oh, there he is! Bakura!" Tea called out to a boy walking by.  
  
The boy with white hair and soft brown eyes looked up from where he had been concentrating on the ground. When he saw who had called him, he smiled and waved. Then he came over and silently joined the "little" group as they trooped into the building.  
  
When everyone was inside, they all said goodbye and split up down the halls toward their separate classes. Except Harry, of course. He suddenly had NO clue what to do.  
  
"New here?" He heard a soft voice behind him. Harry turned around. Bakura was still standing there.  
  
"Yeah... Do you know where I'm supposed to go?" Harry asked.  
  
Bakura nodded. "I'm a transfer student myself." he said.  
  
"From where?"  
  
"England, actually. And judging by your accent, you are too."  
  
Harry nodded. "Yeah."  
  
"Come on, then. Follow me, uh..."  
  
"Harry. Harry Potter."  
  
"Alright then, Harry. I'm Bakura, by the way. You need to come over here."  
  
Harry smiled gratefully. He was so much like Bakura...  
  
******************************************************************  
  
"Tell Stan and Ern to take you to the house next to the shop in Domino city. It doesn't have a legible address... Send a reply with Hedwig before you go. From, Harry." Hermione read aloud to herself. "Alright, if Harry knows something that can help us figure this out, I'm definitely going."  
  
She sat down at the desk in her room and took out some parchment and her quill and began to write a response. Hedwig looked at her impatiently. She still had another letter to deliver after this. She ruffled her feathers and began looking around the room. It was a very clean room, as most of Hermione's things were still packed in her Hogwarts trunk. Crookshanks was sitting curled up on her bed, fast asleep.  
  
Hedwig looked back at Hermione and hooted softly. "Hurry up" she was trying to say. Hermione didn't look up.  
  
"I know, Hedwig! I'm going as fast as I can here." She said. It was true, she was scribbling on the paper very quickly. Faster than Harry could write anyway. Hedwig fluttered over to the chair Hermione was sitting at and perched herself on the back of it.  
  
Hedwig liked to read over people's shoulders. The letter so far read:  
  
Harry,  
  
Sure, I'll come as quickly as possible. I'll still have to pack up the things that I've unpacked already, of course, but that shouldn't take too long. I'd be willing to bet that Ron would be happy to go as well, although he might have to sneak out. I know I'll have to as well. How long will we need to stay there? What should I tell my parents? Oh never mind, don't answer that. I'll come up with something. I'll probably be there within the next day or so, depending on how fast this Knight Bus of yours travels. See you soon, then.  
  
Hermione.  
  
Hedwig was just able to finish reading it, when Hermione folded it up, stuffed it in an envelope, and turned back to her.  
  
"There, now I'm done."  
  
Hedwig held out her leg for Hermione to put the letter on, then she hooted and flew out the window towards Ron's house.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Ok, that's it for now!  
  
Like it so far? ^_^  
  
Now then, off to write the next chapter of this! And finish the next chapter of "Where's Yugi," of course.. And do up a new chappie of "Ring Logic." . And I've been getting some new idears for my Collection as well.. Gee, I need to get going on some of this stuff, huh?  
  
^_^  
  
See ya!  
  
--Daricio 


	3. Gathering Suspisions

Hello, hello!  
  
^_^  
  
Welcome to the newest chapter of my wonderful creative crossover, Millennium Magic! (Ok, I may be streching the truth a little there, but oh well. ^_^)  
  
Ok... Lil notish things:  
  
Did anybody notice who's POV that last section of last chappie was? Yes, it was about Hermione, but did anyone notice that it was actually in Hedgwig's POV? ^_^ Sneaky, aren't I?  
  
Mojobubbles, Yes I know I spelled those wrong. Sometimes I do that. I have spelling issues. ^_^U Sorry!  
  
Thanks to everyone for the encouraging reviews! I'm glad you're into this ficcie! This is definitally the most mysterious ficcie I've done so far... Besides Where's Yugi, of course. ^_^  
  
There's a really cool POV in here... But it's frustratingly hidden as to who it is. *evil grin* You'll never know!!!! Never!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (Well, ya will at the end of the story, but whatever...)  
  
Okies, so enough talking about it and let's get into it! ^_^  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Bakura showed Harry where he was supposed to go to get his paperwork all filled out and then Harry was given a schedule. Because Bakura knew his way around the school by that point, and was right there to be asked, Harry was put into all of his classes and he was assigned to help him out whenever he needed it.  
  
Now they were walking down the halls towards their first period class, which they both had passes to be late into.  
  
"Thanks for agreeing to help me out." Harry said gratefully.  
  
Bakura shrugged. "No problem. Glad I could help."  
  
They walked in silence to the class. Bakura opened the door and they both walked in.  
  
Bakura walked to the head of the class and began talking with the teacher, telling her why Harry was there. Harry began looking around the classroom at the different students. Some were alseep, flopped over on their desks, obviously not paying any attention what so ever to anything the teacher had to say.  
  
Some had been paying a little attention, but were now reading books, doodling, or goofing off while the teacher was busy.  
  
Others had been paying strict attention and were now looking impatient and bored now that the teacher had stopped talking to them.  
  
There was one student, however, that seemed to stand out from the rest even though he was sitting in the very back of the class and was wearing dark clothes.  
  
He didn't look bored, but he didn't look like he really wanted to be paying attention to anybody there, either. He was reading a green book, and basically ingoring everybody. He wasn't exactly the nerdy type, but there was something about him that said, "Leave me alone, I'm working on something."  
  
"Class!" the teacher called out. "This is Harry Potter. I'd like for you all to give him a warm welcome into Domino High. First off, we'll go around the classroom and tell him your name and one thing about yourself, so he won't be confused."  
  
There were a few groans from around the classroom, and a few people rolled their eyes.  
  
"I don't think she realizes that we're not in Kindergarden anymore..." one girl in the front row whispered to herself. Personally, Harry agreed with her, but this would help him out a little bit if the person who did it was in this classroom.  
  
Although, somehow he didn't think somebody was going to say, "I'm so-and-so and I make things disappear!"  
  
Wasn't going to be that easy. Bakura sat down in his seat and the person at the end of the row nearest the teacher stood up, looking straight ahead as if reciting a poem, and said, "I'm Natalie Bromley, and I play Soccer."  
  
She sat down and the next person stood, "I'm Jason Briant, and I'm in Drama club."  
  
He sat and another kid stood. "I'm Malik Ishtar, and I like to collect things."  
  
He sat down, and so on and so on. For the whole first row, it was just normal sounding names with normal sounding activities. "Kickball." "Swimming." "Cheerleading." and some others.  
  
A few kids sounded bored with this, a few seemed enthusiastic to have a new kid, others were saying things that obviously weren't true, just to annoy the teacher...  
  
A few names he recognised caught his attention as he realized that Yugi and a few of the others were in his class.  
  
"I'm Yugi Moto and I like to duel."  
  
Harry heard a few, "Well, duh" s around the room as he sat down again.  
  
"I'm Tea and I like to dance!" Tea twirled around once, then sat down again.  
  
"I'm Joey Wheeler, and.... I like to... uh.. I like to do lots of things!" he sat down again, grinning once more.  
  
Finally, the calling out thing reached the back of the class and the one kid had to introduce himself as well... He obviously HAD been paying attention, even if it seemed that he hadn't.  
  
He didn't stand up, simply looked up and stated, "I'm Seto Kaiba, and I run KaibaCorp."  
  
He continued looking at Harry, his body language suggesting that he was very bored with this whole thing, but something in his eyes kept saying, "I think I know you from somewhere..."  
  
Harry shivered slightly. When he was in the muggle world, it wasn't a good thing for people to know who he was... Here he was just another kid, right?  
  
"Now, wasn't that nice! Harry, why don't you say something about yourself? Where you're from!"  
  
"Um.. I'm from England, and.... uh... I'm staying here with my parents for a few weeks..."  
  
"And what do you like to do?"  
  
"Uh..." Harry thought hard. He obviously couldn't say what he really liked to do, so he needed something else. He shrugged. "I play some sports."  
  
"Alright. Why don't you have a seat next to Mr. Kaiba here, and then we can continue with our lesson. Seto, will you please help Harry out by showing him a little of what we've been learning and helping him get on track?" The teacher strode over to her desk and sat down, ready to begin the lesson once more.  
  
Harry went over and took the seat next to him. He didn't look too happy about it, but kept glancing at Harry, but more importantly, at his scar...  
  
It was almost as if he knew about him already... Maybe there was a wizarding school here in Domino after all? Or perhaps he simply knew a lot about the wizarding world because he was the one who made Hogwarts disappear...  
  
It sort of made sense... Any magic used to do such a thing would have to be extemely powerful, and here was a boy, obviously bored with school, who had some really advanced technology, and the entire Kaiba Corperation, at his command... even if it was just muggle stuff...  
  
Most magic may not be able to penetrate the school's spells, but he was almost sure that if a muggle happened upon it, he'd probably be able to do something to it if he had some machines to help him.  
  
Possibly...  
  
Yugi was still a big suspect, and he never really could make eye contact with him... Yugi was always looking down at the floor, trying to avoid looking at anyone. Was it possible that he knew something about the whole thing?  
  
Harry looked across the faces of several of the other students...  
  
Joey never really had said what he liked to do. Maybe that was connected somehow.  
  
And that Malik kid was kind of quiet as well. A little too quiet. And what was it he had said he liked to do? Collect things? What could he be collecting that was so important?  
  
He sighed.  
  
Maybe Hermione would be able to create a tracking spell when she got there, but for now he'd have to do this on his own, collecting suspicions, and hoping he'd be able to find the person before the Ministry of Magic found him there...  
  
************************************************************************  
  
I had looked over at the new kid, Harry, several times that class period. There was something about him... I just couldn't put my finger on it.  
  
It was especially confusing when that owl came flying in through the school's window and began circling the school until it found him and perched on his shoulder. He had immedietly left the room quickly, muttering an, "I'm sorry," to the teacher, then coming back about 10 minutes later.  
  
I also found it somewhat annoying that Harry kept looking around at everyone curiously all day... as if he had something on his mind...  
  
It was almost as if he knew something. He was probably one of those Ministry people that the person I had made a deal with had talked about, so I had tried to do all my looking discretely.  
  
I was now at the moment, walking home. Today, I was walking alone. I sometimes walked with somebody, but today there had been a huge crowd coming out of the school and we got seperated.  
  
Oh well. I was needing to be going home quickly anyway. I had things to do. I slipped through the crowd, trying to be as unnoticable as I could, just in case I was being tracked. You could never be too careful.  
  
As I rounded the corner towards my house, I noticed something different... There was a huge crowd of people around!  
  
People often came to my house, and so this wouldn't have bugged me too much, but these people weren't going in, weren't even knocking on the door or anything... They were gathered around outside, looking in through the windows, some wandering around on the lawn.  
  
And they were all wearing rather strange clothing...  
  
This was no ordinary bunch of people. If that Harry kid wasn't a Ministry worker or whatever, these people surely were.  
  
That guy had told me that if the Ministry found me, to go somewhere else and he'd find me. I still have no clue what he meant, but whatever.  
  
I continued walking down the street past my house, trying to act as casual as possible. Just another passerby. Inside, I was slightly scared. I had done things before, but I had never been this close to being caught... These Ministry people were even better than I had thought.  
  
I turned into an alley, heading for an old abandoned building that I knew about.  
  
The turns were complicated, and someone who didn't know their way around could easily get lost. Good thing I knew my way around, then...  
  
Although I wasn't expecting for there to be somebody right around that corner... I ran into them, falling over backwards.  
  
"Watch where you're going!" I shouted, getting up and attempting to dust the dirt off my shirt.  
  
"My, my, what a temper you have there." the person I had run into said, sounding amused. "I take the time to go and find you because the Ministry's on your tail, and you yell at me."  
  
I looked up at him, recognising his voice. "Hello, Voldemort." I said.  
  
He grinned his phsycotic grin of his. "Shall we be going to that warehouse building you were planning on going to now?" he asked, turning around and leading the way, not waiting for an answer.  
  
I followed, but I kept my mouth shut. How did he know where I was going? And how was he not getting lost back here?  
  
Did he have some sort of map, or a compass? Or had he, like me, simply been here before?  
  
Whatever. At least he wasn't leading us down to some dead end somewhere.  
  
As we walked, I realized something. At every turn, he would hesitate just the slightest bit, as if waiting for something, and then he would move on again.  
  
If he was anything like Pegasus had been, which his personality was actually annoyingly similar, he was probably reading my mind somehow.  
  
On the next turn, I thought hard, //Right turn!!!//  
  
And he turned right! Running smack into a dead end wall!  
  
I grinned to myself. "I'm not stupid, you know." I said, walking past him and heading the correct way towards the building. My long coat flowed behind me.  
  
He glared at me, then pushed himself ahead of me once again. "Simple miscalculation." he said indignantly. He began walking again, more quickly this time. "And don't pull any more funny stuff. I don't think you're aware of just how powerful the Ministry can get, especially if they know where you are."  
  
I rolled my eyes, even though I knew he couldn't see me because he was ahead of me. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't probe my mind." I told him. "I've had bad experiences with people reading minds before, and I really don't want any more."  
  
"Just a simple spell." Voldemort shrugged. "It's really no big deal. But then, when you need answers, nothing really is, hmm?"  
  
I scowled. He was trying to show me that the Ministry could do the same thing. "Can we just get there?" I asked impatiently.  
  
He didn't answer, simply continued walking until we had reached the old warehouse.  
  
It had been burned out about a year before in some freak mechanical incident. I could still remember the flames all around... I had watched it burn down... And had almost lost someone in it...  
  
There really wasn't anything left in it anymore except a table and bed that someone had dragged in to make the place more livable.  
  
Most of the charred stuff had chipped away, but there was still a smell of smoke around, making it a good place to hide, for if they were using guard dogs or anything to trace me, the scent would be lost among the smoky smells.  
  
Not that these particular people were really going to be using any dogs, but it had been a hiding place that had gotten me out of a few jams in the past.  
  
We both went inside. Voldemort's pathetic looking little servant, Wormtail, was already there waiting for us. Voldemort must have seen the Ministry at my house while I was at school and figured out where I would have gone by the whole mind probing thing.  
  
"Any news, Master?" Wormtail asked quietly.  
  
Voldemort rolled his eyes. "If I was going out for simply news, would I have left you here and come back with this dolt?"  
  
My anger flahed up quickly and I glared at him. "Watch it."  
  
He smirked, then turned back to me. "And why should I?"  
  
"Because you need me here."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"Or else you wouild have let me get caught by the Ministry people. I know how you people work. You're all the same."  
  
"Whatever are you talking about?"  
  
I rolled my eyes. Wormtail was watching, seeming to take pleasure in watching someone get a tongue-lashing from his "master."  
  
I decided to change the subject. "Whatever. As I recall, you told me you weren't done doing what we started the other night?"  
  
Voldemort frowned at having his insults and taunting be completley ignored, but then went on. "Yes, we still have some work to do."  
  
"Then let's get this over with."  
  
********************************************************************  
  
The moment Harry stepped out of the door of the school, he was seperated from everybody. He had been wandering around Domino long enough the other day that he knew how to gett back to the placce he had rented, but he was still upset that he hadn't gotten to walk home with his new friends...  
  
As he got around the corner where he could see his "house," he grinned. Hermione and Ron were waiting for him on the front porch.  
  
"Hey!" he called. They looked up at saw him. Ron grinned, waving back, but Hermione looked annoyed.  
  
"What took you so long to get here? I thought you were going to be right here when we got here? We've been waiting here for..." She checked her watch, "About an hour now!"  
  
"Sorry. Come inside, I'll explain everything to you."  
  
********************************************************************  
  
You don't know who it iiiiiiiis! You don't know who it iiiiiiiis! ^_^  
  
I'm being evilness... ^_^ That POV was fun to write... Although, quite hard... Hard to write in detail when you're trying to hide all important details.. ^_^U  
  
See ya next chappie!  
  
--Daricio 


	4. Caught!

Hello, hello!  
  
Welcome, once again, to the wonderful world of Harry Potter and Yu-Gi-Oh!  
  
I gotsted several reviews on this chapter, and many people made good guesses of "who done it."  
  
A few people even guessed it correctly!!! (Which, I found to be slightly frustrating... ) ^_^U  
  
Yes, it has been guessed Malik, it's been guessed Bakura and Yami Bakura, it's been guessed Yugi, it's been guessed Kaiba, and it's been guessed Joey! I even had somebody guess Pegasus, even though that was just my brother being... strange....  
  
^_^  
  
So, who out of all these people were correct in their guessing???  
  
*drumroll*  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
...  
  
I'M NOT TELLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!  
  
You'll have to, like Harry, simply read on and collect suspicions. ^_^  
  
*evil grin*  
  
Sorry for those of you who said that I made that POV way too easy to guess... But seeing as I had so many varied answers, I suppose it wasn't as obvious as you think...  
  
So now, on with the story!!!  
  
**************************************************************************** ***  
  
"And that's what's going on here." Harry finally finished. He had been trying to explain everything to Ron and Hermione for a while, but it was difficult to explain some of his suspisions to them.  
  
"So, basically, what you're saying is, you went to this school and hid as a student, then you suspected absolutely everyone of doing it. Is that right?" Hermione asked, a grin forming on her face.  
  
Harry shrugged. "Not everyone... Just some."  
  
"So far, you've listed about six or seven people that you're suspecting of doing it. They can't ALL be doing it!" Ron put in.  
  
Harry shrugged. "That's why I had you come here. So that you can help me!"  
  
Hermione nodded. "Alright... We'll go to school with you tomorrow, and if anyone asks, we're brothers and sisters, ok?"  
  
"Why's that?" Ron asked.  
  
"Because we're all coming from the same address. Don't you think they'll be a little bit suspicious of us if we didn't say something like that?"  
  
"Yeah, but we're all the same age!" Harry said. "How will that work?"  
  
"Oh, we're all different heights. We can fake our ages to be different. Harry's already signed up as a... Freshman, did you say it was?" Ron asked.  
  
Harry nodded. "Instead of putting people into first years, second years, third years, and such, they divide them into four age groups: Freshman, who are about our real age, Sophomores, who are about 6th years, Juniors, who are 7th years, and Seniors. 8th years, I suppose."  
  
"Alright, so Harry will be a Freshman, I'll be a Junior, and Ron can be a sophomore." Hermione decided.  
  
"No, How about two of us stay in the same age group... There is a such thing as twins that don't look the same, you know." Harry pointed out.  
  
"True. Alright then, me and Hermione will be Sophomores, and you can be a Freshman." Ron said.  
  
"Why do I stay a Freshman?"  
  
"Becuase you already signed all those papers!"  
  
"Oh, right."  
  
"Ok. So, tomorrow, we'll go to school with you, and you can point out some of the people you were looking at. After school, I'll see if I can make up a tracking spell. It's too late tonight, and we've got to get some sleep if we don't want to be late tomorrow." Hermione said.  
  
Harry nodded. "This house, as you know, has three floors... We can each have a floor, if you want..."  
  
"That's fine by me." Ron said, grinning for the first time since Harry started his story. "I'll not only have my own room, I'll have my own section of the house!"  
  
"Goodnight then." Hermione said, getting up.  
  
"Goodnight."  
  
"Goodnight."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
{The next morning}  
  
At 6:30, Hedwig woke everybody up (smart owl...) and they all began getting ready for their first days, (Or in Harry's case, second day,) of school...  
  
They quickly dressed into their muggle clothes and got out the door heading towards the school, now that Harry knew where it was.  
  
"Just don't be surprised if some of this stuff they're having us learn is strange... it is a muggle school, after all." Harry whispered to the other two. Ron nodded.  
  
"Hey, Harry!" Harry turned to see who had called him.  
  
It was Tea, just walking down the walkway, Yugi behind her. Harry stopped and let them both catch up to his little group.  
  
"Hey, Tea. These are my fr- er, my brother, Ron, and my sister, Hermione." Harry said, smiling. "They got here yesterday, the day after I did.  
  
Tea grinned. "Hi! I'm Tea, and this is Yugi!"  
  
Yugi waved slightly, but it was obvious that his mind was still on other things.  
  
They continued the walk to school mostly in silence, with Tea occationally bringing up a new topic here and there.  
  
When Joey, Tristan, and the others began to show up and attach themselves to the group, Harry was able to talk with Hermione and Ron.  
  
"Yugi's very quiet. I wonder if he's just like that now, or if he's always like that..." Hermione wondered.  
  
Ron shrugged. "I dunno. What about Bakura? He's pretty quiet, too ya know."  
  
Harry shrugged. "It could still be Joey..."  
  
Hermione sighed. "That wasn't an open invitation to turn everybody into suspects, people." she said. "We have to think logically about this. We need valid reasons, not inklings and wild guesses."  
  
Ron nodded. "Alright. And perhaps we should see more of Harry's original suspects first before we go making any assumptions."  
  
"Good idea."  
  
By this time, more people were starting to pay attention to them, trying to figure out who the new people were, and so they couldn't talk any more.  
  
They walked into the school, meeting all of Yugi and Tea's friends on the way. When everyone split up to go to their classes, Bakura stayed behind to wait up for Harry. Harry told him to go ahead to class. He had to take Hermione and Ron to the attendance window...  
  
Once they had finally gotten all that settled and Ron and Hermione were given their scheduals, (strangely and thankfully enough, with everybody having the exact same classes so they could stay together) they hurried to the first class.  
  
Harry opened the door, and the three of them slipped inside. Bakura looked up adn saw them, then same as he had done the day before, got up and went to talk to the teacher.  
  
The whole introduction thing went... again... Some of the students had changed what things they had said they liked to do... Most kept the same answers...  
  
Afterwards, the teacher gave Ron and Hermione seats next to Harry. The lesson began once again, and the students among them immedietly gained extremely bored looks.  
  
Actually, it didn't take long before Harry was also bored of the topic... Compared to some of the things he was always learning, somehow the theories of physics seemed just slightly out-of-date...  
  
So instead, he began looking over the students in the class. Ron and Hermione were doing the same, although Hermione seemed to be interested in the lesson as well. This could probably count for extra credit in Muggle Studies, Harry supposed.  
  
If there IS a Muggle Studies class anymore, he suddenly remembered again. He frowned, continuing his look around the students. He allowed his mind began to wander.  
  
It was very interesting that the teacher, and the lady the office, had known that Hermione, Ron, and him had needed to stay together... it was probably just a coincidence...  
  
But if it was, it was a very big coincidence... They had been sitting there hoping that they'd all have the same classes, and sure enough, they all get the same classes. They hope that they get seated together so they can talk, and sure enough, they get seats next to each other.  
  
Almost as if somebody had been reading.... their... minds...  
  
He leaned over to Hermione. "Hey, Hermione." he whispered. "Isn't there a spell somewhere that allows you to read people's minds?"  
  
She looked at him. "I'm not sure... There might be, but it would have to be very advanced magic..."  
  
"Why do you ask?" Ron asked quietly.  
  
"Because did you notice that the teachers allowed us to be in all the same classes, and sit together, but they didn't have to ask us to know that we wanted that? Pretty big coincidence if you ask me..." Harry explained.  
  
Hermione looked at the teacher, who was still blabbing on about inertia or something like that. She hadn't seemed to notice that the three were talking. In fact...  
  
Harry looked around. In one corner of the room, a few people were playing a card game with each other, and the teacher still didn't notice...  
  
"So what, now you think that it was the teachers here who did it?" Hermione asked. "And you think they're reading our minds?"  
  
Harry shook his head. "No, I don't think the teachers are reading our minds, I think someone else is. Look." He gestured to the card playing students. "The teacher isn't even noticing those kids over there. I think she's being mind controlled somehow... Is there a spell for that?"  
  
Hermione's eyes opened wide. "Mind control?" she gasped. "Harry, that's black magic! Do you think someone would-"  
  
Ron rolled his eyes. "Hermione, this is a villan we're talking about. A bad guy. Probably somebody working with You-Know-Who. Do you really think they'll hesitate to use something like that?"  
  
Hermione glanced back at the teacher. "I suppose not... But, Harry..." she looked back at him. "This is dangerous!"  
  
Harry nodded solemnly. "When isn't something I do dangerous?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.  
  
Ron grinned. "Speaking of dangerous, wanna go see what those kids are playing?" he asked.  
  
"It's called Duel Monsters." Kaiba said suddenly, not looking up from his book. "It's gotten quite popular around here."  
  
Harry, Hermione, and Ron froze.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Neahahahahahahahaha... short chappie, but it's just as evil as all the rest, ne?  
  
I feel eeeeeevil!!! ^_^ Seto's got just a liiiiittle too good of hearing...  
  
What will happen to them? What else of their conversation did Kaiba hear? Find out next time!  
  
See ya next chappie!  
  
--Daricio 


	5. Clearing Kaiba

Hello!!  
  
Welcome to my latest chappie of Millennium Magic! ^_^ It's time to confuse you some more!!! *evil grin*  
  
I know you were all just waiting for this chappie, and you really want me to shut up now so you can figure out what happens next, so....  
  
Seeing as there's really no reason not to do so, I'll go ahead and shut up now so you can read the next chappie. ^_^  
  
Oh, wait... Noteish things:  
  
Words written in Italics for this chappie is thinking... ( 'Cause I'm getting tired of writing in //word.// things...) the italics may or may not show up... (my computer tends to make italics not work on FF.net...) So it'll be: 'word' like that. k? (I'm confusing myself)  
  
I will give you a hint about who it is.... It's NOT a girl. It's a guy. Not saying any more than that, though. ^_^  
  
Also, about the "long coat" that whoever did it said that they had... In my opinion, all the charas on Yu-Gi-Oh have really long coats... All of MY coats have always come down to my waist, and no lower, and so I call all the coats they wear that come down to their waists and then flare out, quite long coats... so don't read too much into that comment, k?  
  
Alright, NOW the ficcie...  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Harry stared at Kaiba.  
  
"What?" he asked softly.  
  
RRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Harry jumped. Kaiba put his book into his bag, got up and left the room without another word. The rest of the class also began filing out of the room. Harry, Ron, and Hermione gathered up what little school supplies they had been given and stuffed it all into their new backpacks.  
  
They all walked single file out of the room, Harry following the other two. Suddenly, somebody grabbed the back of his coller, pulling him backwards.  
  
"Meet me after school. We need to talk." Kaiba hissed into his ear. His shirt was released and Harry whirled around, just in time to see Kaiba melt into the crowd of people that were on their way to their next classes.  
  
'How could Kaiba have heard what we were saying? How much did he actually hear? If he heard too much, this could expose the entire wizarding world to muggles! Or at the very least, if Kaiba was the one who did it, he'd know that we're looking for him... I guess I'll find out after school...' Harry thought.  
  
He hurried to catch up to Hermione and Ron, and he quietly told them about Kaiba wanting to talk to them.  
  
"Well, I figured he'd want to, after what he heard us talking about." Hermione said.  
  
"How about we don't talk about this in class anymore, all right?" Ron said.  
  
Herry nodded. "Good idea."  
  
They reached the door for their next class.  
  
The rest of the day passed aggravatingly slowly, especially during their fourth period class, Math, which Kaiba was also in. He sat on the opposite side of the room, though, and he left quickly after class was over.  
  
Just when Harry thought he couldn't take it any longer, the bell rang for school to get out.  
  
Harry sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, it's finally over." he muttered to himself, gathering up his things.  
  
Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement.  
  
"Harry, did Kaiba say where to meet him?" Ron asked as they left the classroom.  
  
Harry shook his head. "No, he just said after school."  
  
Hermione sighed. "How in the world are we supposed to meet him if we don't know-"  
  
Her question was answered before it was even completely out, becuase as they walked out the front door of the school, she spotted Kaiba leaning up against a tree, waiting for them, something clenched in his hand.  
  
Harry went over to him and Hermione and Ron followed.  
  
Kaiba looked down at Harry. "Let's not talk here. People could overhear." He turned and began walking down the street.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermionie exchanged nervous glances, but they followed him.  
  
It soon became obvious where they were going as the KaibaCorp building began to loom up. When they reached the huge main doors, Kaiba headed for an elevator.  
  
The elevator took the four to the top floor where Kaiba's office was located.  
  
Once they were in there, Kaiba strode over to his desk, pressed the comm button, and told his secretary that they were not to be bothered for any reason.  
  
Then he turned back to them. "Have a seat." he said. They all did so, still very nervous.  
  
Kaiba sat down at his desk and looked at Harry. "So I finally get to talk to the great Harry Potter face to face."  
  
Harry didn't say anything.  
  
"You do realize that what you did today was very foolish, very stupid, and could very well have landed you in Azkaban if it had been anybody but me who had heard you?" Kaiba asked.  
  
"You know abut Azkaban, then?" Ron blurted out.  
  
Kaiba turned to him. "Well, I should, seeing as I'm a..." he cut off his sentance and glared at the floor.  
  
"So you're a wizard, then?" Hermione asked.  
  
Kaiba shook his head. "No, I'm not." he said bitterly.  
  
Ron stared. "Well then, how could you know ab-"  
  
"I'm a squib, alright? Don't rub it in." Kaiba spat the name out like something foul. "My little brother got his letter this last year, he was going to go to Hogwarts and be a first year, except..."  
  
A smile started to come out on Harry's face, but he forced it back. 'This is no laughing matter.' he thought, mentally grinning.  
  
There was silence in the room for a few seconds.  
  
"This explains a lot, then." Hermione said. Ron nodded.  
  
"From what I heard today, you three have been trying to figure out who it was that made Hogwarts disappear, am I correct?" Kaiba asked, quickly changing the subject.  
  
Hermione nodded. "But how would you know about that? Hogwarts is in England, this is Domino."  
  
Kaiba rolled his eyes and lay out the paper that he had had in his hand onto his desk. It was a Daily Prophet.  
  
"Oh." Hermione said.  
  
"Pretty good of you to figure out that it was a Domino High student so quickly. That took me a few days before I figured it out. Have you collected very many suspicions?" Kaiba asked.  
  
Harry nodded. "A few. You were one of them, actually, but now obviously, you're cleared..."  
  
Hermione spoke up. "We were actually looking at everyone as a potential suspect..."  
  
"Which is a nice way of saying, we suspected everyone of doing it." Ron put in.  
  
Kaiba nodded slowly. "A good tactic, actually. If you suspect everybody, you have to be right for at least one of them..."  
  
"So now were doing guilty until proven innocent?" Hermione asked.  
  
"That seemed to have been working so far." Kaiba commented. "Seeing as you cleared me and my brother so fast."  
  
Ron nodded. "True." He turned to Hermione. "And it does make sense to do that, seeing as we have virtually no leads."  
  
Kaiba cleared his throat, got up from his desk, and pulled a small folder out of a nearby cabinet. "Well, you may have no leads, but I've been here almost all my life. I know what to look for in people, so I can see if they're acting suspicious." he plopped the folder on the desk. "And I have collected a few leads myself."  
  
Ron stared at the folder, than up at Kaiba. "Why haven't you shared any of this with the Ministry of Magic?"  
  
Kaiba snorted. "You think those dolts would listen to anything a squib had to say? I'm as good as a muggle, to them! And besides, even if they did listen to me, they'd probably just do something stupid like barge into Domino High insisting that whoever was doing underage magic in there, and black magic at that, should come out with their hands up."  
  
Harry nodded, grinning slightly. "That sounds like the Ministry that we all know and love."  
  
Ron agreed. "Yeah, they wouldn't even believe Harry when he said that You- Know-Who was back!"  
  
Kaiba's eyes opened wide. "What?"  
  
Hermione sighed. "Long story." she said.  
  
"And long story short, Harry got attacked by him last year at Hogwarts, and no doubt he's the one that made Hogwarts disappear!' Ron said. "But the Ministry won't believe us, or Dumbledore!"  
  
There was silence for a moment as Ron let this sink in.  
  
Finally, Kaiba nodded. "Well, it makes sense that if the Ministry doesn't believe you, the rest of the wizarding world wouldn't hear about it by this." he said, gesturing to the newspaper that still lay on the desk, it's front picture showing lots of Hogwarts students running about a big ditch.  
  
"Yeah, that's it exactly." Harry said. "Now, let's look at some of these leads you have."  
  
Kaiba nodded firmly and opened the folder, revealing some pictures, notes, and a few letters.  
  
Harry stood and went over to the desk, picking up the first picture, one of Yugi Moto. The picture underneath it caught hi eye, however and he set Yugi's picture down and picked that one up.  
  
After staring at the picture for a little while, Harry looked up at Kaiba. "What are these?" he asked, showing him the picture.  
  
"These are what are known as the Millennium Items. They are... said.. to hold a lot of power within them." Kaiba said.  
  
"That sounds like you don't believe that any of that is true." Hermione said, taking the picture from Harry and studying it.  
  
Kaiba shrugged. "I know that they have some sort of magic, but I seriously doubt that they really have all that much power. They're from Ancient Egypt. This," he pointed to one of the items that looked like a long stick with a strange eye symbol on the top of it. "is the Millennium Rod. This," he pointed to one that looked like a pair of scales. "is the Millennium Scales. This," he pointed to a ball type thing with that eye symbol on it again. "is the Millennium Eye. This," he pointed to one that was simply just the eye symbol, but with strings on it. "is the Millennium Necklace, or the Millennium Tauk, as some call it. This," he pointed to a strange ring chaped thing with spindles and a triange in the center. "is the Millennium Ring. This," he pointed to a golden key. "is the Millennium Key. And this," he pointed to a strange upside down pyramid thing. "Is the Millennium Puzzle."  
  
Harry blinked at that last one, then looked at Yugi's picture again. "Hey, that's what he wears all the time!" he looked at the Rod too. "And that's what that Malik guy has with him sometimes! You're saying that they both have one of these items?"  
  
Kaiba nodded. "Yes. And one of the main powers of these items is sending people or things... to the Shadow Realm."  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
"Alright, so now that we know exactly what happened to Hogwarts, it got sent to the Shadow Realm, we need to talk to Yugi and Malik to see if we can pick up any clues." Ron said.  
  
They were now walking back to their rented house.  
  
Harry nodded. "Mostly Yugi. According to Kaiba, he's normally very happy, very perky, but something's been troubling him lately. It's got to have something to do with this, right?"  
  
"Right." Hermione said. "And there's one thing we've definitely learned today..."  
  
Ron nodded firmly. "Uh, huh. Don't EVER assume that freaky people are suspects, because they're probably squibs."  
  
"Ron!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"What I meant was, we learned that no matter how much the teacher isn't paying attention to us, we do NOT talk about this at all during class." Hermione finished with an annoyed look at Ron.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
^_^ More evilness!!!  
  
Sorry to all of you who guessed that our criminal was Seto Kaiba the squib! He and his brother Mokuba, the future wizard, have been officially cleared!  
  
NOW who do you think it is?  
  
*evil grin* See ya next time!  
  
--Daricio 


	6. Truth Serums Idea, and Unclearing Kaiba?

Hello, people..  
  
(And to those readers who aren't people, hello to you too...)  
  
Why did I just say that? *shrugs* oh well...  
  
Anyway, welcome to the latest chappie of Millennium Magic.  
  
Special thanks to those of you who reviewed on my last chappie. You all have interesting ideas!  
  
(Speaking of which, I keep on not putting in Harry creating a deck for himself... hmmmm... I'll have to do this in this chappie.. or next chappie... or... gah! -_- *thinks for a moment* actually, I'm not sure that Harry getting a deck will fit into this storyline... hmm.. I may or may not put it in, you'll just have to read and see if I do...  
  
Oh, and... Mojobubbles? Harry-tachi meeting Yami is next chappie. ^_^ )  
  
For those of you who have read the last chappie of my Where's Yugi story, this is a review, but for those who haven't let me run this by you.  
  
I've been thinking of discontinueing this story... I mean, I haven't really been receiving very many reviews on the updates that I do on it, and I keep getting writers block on who I should clear and how to clear them and all that...  
  
(I'm going to post up this chappie and then stop writing until I get more responses on this thing. Millennium Item Girl may still update, as it is both me and my little sister's ficcie and she may still want to write it.)  
  
Plus there's that little fact that you people keep guessing correctly as to who did it!!! V_V  
  
That's not fair...  
  
Still not saying WHO got it write, just that a lot of you have...  
  
Ah well, I'll just fill this chappie with confusing things that will throw you off track once again, then, shall I?  
  
Oh, and speaking of including things in this chappie, I must thank Master of Dimensions for giving me ideas for this and other chappies. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! ^_^ I had major writer's block on this, and you came along and listened patiently to everything I had to say about it, endured whilst I disproved almost all your theories and things, until we finally came upon a few really good ideas. ^_^ Arigato a million times!  
  
And thanks to Mojobubbles for helping me find a site that had some of the ingredients for a Truth Serum on it so that I didn't make my brain hurt too much trying to come up with my own. And for helping me with the correct spelling for the word serum. ^_^U  
  
Another thing, I'm going to quit calling Seto Kaiba "Kaiba."... It sounds weird... Makes him sound like a teacher... maybe I should start calling him Professer Kaiba... *blink* Cept he can't do magic.. ^_^U I'm going to call him Seto for this though, to make him sound more like a normal student instead of a teacher... Unless you'd like for me to call him "Squibby." Vote after the chappie!  
  
Well, let's get into this chappie! ^_^ *eats marshmallows* ^_^  
  
************************************************************  
  
"I have a question." Ron said, raising his hand as the three of them walked towards school the next morning.  
  
"What, Ron?" Harry asked.  
  
Ron put his hand down, looking thoughtful. "How exactly are we going to know that these people did or didn't do it?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, you see... We can't exactly just walk up to these people and ask them, "Say, have you been making any big magical buildings disappear lately?" and expect to not get in huge trouble with the Ministry of Magic. And even if we wouldn't get into trouble for it, can you really expect them to answer truthfully?"  
  
The three of them thought about this for a moment.  
  
"That's it! Truth!" Hermione spoke up suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"We can make Truth Serums! Remember the syrum that Dumbledore gave to Crouch that made him admit what he had been doing? If we can get the right ingredients, we can make one of those as well!" Hermione said excitedly.  
  
"And what are we going to ask them?" Harry asked. "Like Ron said, if we ask them about Hogwarts, we'll be endangering the Wizarding World and we'll get in humungous trouble."  
  
"Hey! What about Memory charms? We can ask them and do a memory charm!" Ron said.  
  
"One problem. Do you know how to do a memory charm?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, no... But Hermione's brought all her books and things, I'm sure memory charm is in there somewhere, right?"  
  
"Actually, no. It's not. Memory charms can be very dangerous, so you don't learn them until you're a 6th year, and even then not until you've completed your apperation testing to show that you're responsible. That's next year for us, not this year." Hermione pointed out.  
  
"And besides that, I'm pretty sure that the Ministry is going to be scanning the area, searching for any and all magic used around here and checking it out. That's how I'd find magic if I were a Ministry worker." Harry said slowly.  
  
"Oh... darn." Ron said, thinking again. "So what are we going to do? And how are we going to get everything we'd need for a Truth Serum, anyhow?"  
  
Hermione shrugged. "Maybe Seto will have some of the ingredients we need. Our potions books have the truth syrum in it, we were going to learn to do that this year, but obivously that didn't work... and as for what we'll ask people, we just need to ask something simple such as, 'Have you been doing anything bad recently?'"  
  
Ron and Harry thought about this for a moment.  
  
"Well," Ron spoke up. "That could work, but-"  
  
"Hey, Harry! Hermione! Ron!" Yugi called from behind them. "Wait up!"  
  
The three stopped and waited, knowing that their planning would have to wait until after school now.  
  
Tea and Yugi quickly caught up, and they began walking together.  
  
Yugi seemed more open today, talking with them about this and that like any normal person... It made it kind of hard to explain his other recent, more closed behavior... Maybe he had been told he was acting weird and was now trying to act cheerful to cover it up...  
  
Who knows?  
  
Tea looked pleased that Yugi was back to normal, and talked mostly with him about things instead of with Harry, Hermione, and Ron...  
  
Before they got to the school building, Joey, Tristan, and Bakura caught up and attached themselves to the group, so they all walked in together.  
  
Seto had already been in the hall, just about to go into the office for some reason or another, and when he spotted harry in the group, he gave him a look that was half knowing and half wondering why he was hanging out with these people, before slipping inside.  
  
Joey noticed the look and glanced at Harry. "He doesn't like us much." he explained. "Never has... Not since Yugi beat him at Duel Monsters..."  
  
Harry looked up. "So everything around here rides on this game, Duel Monsters?"  
  
Joey shook his head. "Not quite everything, but a huge amount of it, definitely. For one thing, we'd have never met Malik without Duel Monsters, or his sister, Isis. Yugi wouldn't have that Puzzle, I'd have never gotten to go to Duelist Kingdom and won second place in the tournament, and Kaiba wouldn't hate us quite so much..."  
  
Harry nodded. "I see... Why wouldn't Yugi have the Puzzle, though?"  
  
Joey shrugged and began speaking slowly. "I don't quite get it all myself, but... It's very much tied into the game......... You see... there's a-"  
  
Joey didn't get to finish telling Harry what he was talking about because the bell suddenly rang for them to go to class.  
  
Joey took off for his class, calling to Harry over his shoulder. "Come to the Duel Monsters match we're having tonight at Yugi's place! We'll tell ya then, ok?"  
  
Harry nodded quickly and then Joey was out of sight, lost in the crowd. He himself had to go to the exact same class as Joey, so he wasn't sure why they couldn't continue their conversation then, but...  
  
He supposed that Joey didn't feel comfortable telling Harry something that was Yugi's to tell, and that was it...  
  
He began jogging to class, Hermione and Ron beside him. They hadn't really heard his conversastion, as they had each been having their own with different people of the group.  
  
"Tristan says that they went to this Duelist Kingdom thing once..." Ron said as they ran. "Interesting, huh?"  
  
"Yeah," Harry confirmed. "Joey said that too."  
  
"Tea was talking to me about her dancing. The two of us really don't have all that much in common... I'd rather study than dance, but she'd like to study dance......" Hermione mused.  
  
"Joey was saying something about Yugi's Millennium Item being connected with the game of Duel Monsters... I think we need to ask Seto for more information about those items if you ask me..." Harry said.  
  
"Right." Hermione acknowledged. They reached the classroom and filed in with the rest of the class.  
  
Somehow, in the crowd of people that had accumulated when the bell had rung, Seto had managed to get to his seat before the other two had. As they sat down, he leaned over slightly to talk to them.  
  
"Did you figure anything out since we talked yesterday? Any new leads?" he asked, seeming eager to know that he had somebody he could ask about this without people thinking he was nuts.  
  
Harry opened his mouth to tell him their Truth Serum idea, and how they were going to go to Yugi's after school to learn more, but Hermione cut him off.  
  
"No, actually, we haven't found anything... maybe we'll find more after school today, right Harry?" she said quickly, giving Harry a look that said, "go with me here, I know what I'm doing."  
  
He nodded in agreement, although his mind was racing. What did Hermione think she was doing? Did she not trust Kaiba? They already knew that he hadn't sent Hogwarts to the Shadow Realm!... didn't they?  
  
Class started and the teacher began talking again. They all began paying attention to what she was saying.  
  
Hermione leaned over to Harry and whispered so quietly that he almost didn't catch what she was saying, "I'll explain after class."  
  
******************************************************  
  
After class, during which a group of students were playing Duel Monsters entirely unnoticed by the teacher once again, Hermione led the other two over to a mostly secluded area.  
  
"We only have five minutes passing time, but I have to tell you guys this."  
  
Harry and Ron nodded. "What was with the whole not telling Seto what was going on thing back there, Hermione?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah! Don't tell me you still think he did it!" Ron said exasperately.  
  
"Actually, yes. I do."  
  
Ron sighed and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Just hear me out. Ok, Ron?" Hermione said. Ron nodded slowly, so she went on. "Seto's brother, Mokuba, was going to Hogwarts, and it's obvious that he's very fond of him, so the fact that the school got sent to the Shadow Realm BEFORE the term actually started and the students actually got there adds into that. Also, Seto's a squib. According to what he said while we were there, he believes that the Ministry of Magic is made up of egotistical idiots. This means he has plenty of reason to do something to get the Ministry's attention. And he certainly has enough money and power here to influence anybody to help him to do things."  
  
Ron stared in disbelief. "Hey, you're right!"  
  
Harry frowned. "But if he's the one that did all this, why is he helping us out and giving us leads?"  
  
Hermione shrugged. "Maybe he wants to give us false information in order to mislead us. The whole thing about the Millennium Items? It could just be to make Yugi and Malik seem as if they were the ones who did it. Or maybe it is true that they have power, but maybe he himself has one, or maybe the people that have them aren't using them for anything bad..."  
  
"There may be another aspect of the Millennium Items that we don't get yet... Joey was trying to tell me something before school today, and I think we'll find out a whole lot more when we go to that match after school today." Harry said.  
  
Hermione agreed. "Plus, we'll make up a truth serum before the match, if we have time, and we'll have a little talk with some of the people there..."  
  
Ron nodded. "Alright." he looked down at his watch. "Aiiie! We've got thirty seconds to get to our next class, guys, let's go!"  
  
They all jumped up and ran to their next class.  
  
*****************************************************************  
  
The after school hours finally arrived.  
  
While they were walking home, Harry asked about the match and Yugi replied that it wasn't going to be for about two hours, as he had come chores and homework to get done up, and he wanted to be sure he wouldn't get interupted in the middle of any duels.  
  
Becuase of this, Hermione concluded that they had plenty of time to make up a syrum. IF Seto had the ingredients they needed...  
  
When they got inside the house, Ron came up with another question.  
  
"If we're not going to tell Seto about any of our leads or anything we're doing, how are we going to get him to give us the stuff we need for a Truth Serum?"  
  
Hermione, Harry, and Ron all thought about this for a moment.  
  
Finally, Hermione came up with something. "Well, it seems to me that the person Seto most wants us to think did it is Yugi."  
  
Harry nodded. "Yeah, Joey mentioned something about Yugi and them never getting along with Seto, becuase of that Duel Monsters game. I think they're arch rivals. So it makes sense for Seto to want us to think Yugi did it."  
  
"But what does that have to do with-"  
  
"Because we can tell him we're making a serum, and that we're going to use it to ask Yugi if he's done anything. Seto will probably instantly agree, because of the whole arch rival thing." Hermione spoke up.  
  
"But if he is, like you said, the one who did it, he'll be instantly NOT wanting to give you stuff for a truth serum because then we'd be able to find out that Yugi didn't do it!" Ron said.  
  
"But we don't know that Yugi DIDN'T do it! Has everyone forgotten that Seto isn't the only person we need to worry about here? There's still Yugi, Malik, Joey, Tristan, Bakura, Tea, and a whole slew of other people at that school that could have potentially done it!" Harry pointed out.  
  
Hermione nodded. "True. How about we ask Seto if he has any of the ingredients we need, and then we tell him what we're using them for, and hope he'll give them to us."  
  
Ron nodded. "Good idea. Let's head to Seto's. If he doesn't have the stuff, there's no way we'll be able to make up the serum before Yugi's match thing he's doing. Or even make it at all!"  
  
"I've got a few ingredients here already." Hermione said. "Some of the stuff we were told to bring for potions class this year."  
  
Ron gave her a strange look. "You brought all your potions stuff?"  
  
Hermione nodded slowly. "You never know when it'll help. And in this case, it did. Now let's get to Seto's place and ask him."  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
"What in the world could you possibly need all this for?" Seto asked, looking down at the list that Hermione had set in front of him.  
  
They were back in the top office of KaibaCorp once again.  
  
"Let's just say we're on to something, and if we don't have those ingredients, we can't make the potion that will help us." Hermione said, not realy telling him anything at all.  
  
Seto looked up at her suspiciously. "Potion?" he asked. "Ok, I may not be able to do any magic or make any working potions myself, but I have studied some of the school books, and I do know that there are no potions in the first through fourth years that have the ingredient 'Jobberknoll Feathers" in it."  
  
Hermione shifted from one foot to the other.  
  
"As far as I know, the only things that this ingredient is good for are memory potions and truth serums, am I correct?" Seto asked.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Yeah.. we were going to make a truth serum to try on Yugi..." she mumbled.  
  
Seto thought about this for a moment. Finally, he nodded. "Sounds reasonable. When'd you come up with that?"  
  
"This, er... Afternoon." Ron said.  
  
Seto rasied an eyebrow. "Sounds like somebody in this room needs a Truth Serum."  
  
Ron blushed. "This morning."  
  
Seto turned and strode over to a wall. Pressing a hidden button, a hole in the wall appeared, showing itself to be a door!  
  
Harry stared. "Guess you don't need magic to do werid things..." he mumbled to himself.  
  
Seto either didn't hear this, or decided to ignore it, becuase he went inside the room and began digging around on different shelves, occationally referring back to Hermione's list. After a while, he came out again carrying a box full of ingredients and handed it to Hermione.  
  
"There." he said. "That should cover everything you need for this serum."  
  
Ron, Harry, and Hermione exchanged glances. "Thanks."  
  
They left KaibaCorp, feeling more confused than they had before they came.  
  
Halfway home, Hermione sighed. "Ok, well maybe I was wrong about Seto. Maybe he is just a nice normal person who wants to help us..."  
  
Ron shrugged. "Actually, he could very well still be a suspect."  
  
"For now, let's just focus on getting this serum made up so we can get to the match." Harry said.  
  
Hermione and Ron agreed.  
  
When tehy got into the house, suddenly, Hermione took control. Ron and Harry were ordered to run around and set things up, bring her certain items, and stir occationally.  
  
She obviously knew what she was doing, though, and so neither Harry nor Ron complained abut it.  
  
Within half an hour, Hermione had made up a small bit of the potion.  
  
"It's VERY apparent that he's never made potion himself before, because he didn't give us enough ingredients to make more than one vial of it, enough to make one person answer completely truthfully! But if we split it up into parts, we can get up to three people to answer our questions at least mostly truthfully..." Hermione commented.  
  
Ron looked at his watch. "Just in time too." he said. "It's time for the match to start."  
  
Harry looked out the window, and saw quite a few people gathered outside Yugi's game shop. "Yup, looks like everybody's there. Let's go!"  
  
And so they went.  
  
**************************************************************************** ***  
  
-_- I was going to make that chappie have more in it, such as actually clearing another person, but... Apperently all I've done is annoy people by adding Seto back into the list of suspects...  
  
Which, by the way, is as follows:  
  
Seto, Yugi, Yami, Malik, Bakura, Y.Bakura, Tea, Tristan, Joey, and.. that's it.  
  
So, anyway.. I must ask the question that is becoming the trademark of this ficcie.  
  
NOW who do you think it is?  
  
--Daricio 


	7. Duels, information, and Clearing people!

All right, took me long enough, but I finally am getting around to starting my next chapter of Millennium Magic.  
  
^_^U  
  
I've been working on a lot of my stories lately, trying to finish up chapters and such... Hopefully this chapter will be up before... *checks date that she started* hopefully up before November... If it wasn't up by then, you all have my full permission to pummel me with rotten bananas.  
  
Not tomatoes, mind you. Bananas. Only bananas. ^_^  
  
Malik: Well folks, say goodbye to her sanity. School has made her lose her mind.  
  
Daricio: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell! I know, right now you can't tell! But stay awhile, maybe then you'll see a different side of me!  
  
Malik: Quit stealing lyrics from Matchbox20...  
  
Daricio: ^_^U But I LIKE that song!!! (It's called "Unwell" BTW, and I obviously don't own it. But I like it.)  
  
Malik: Whatever. Are you going to start the chappie???  
  
Daricio: Oh, right. Of course. ^_^ But first, I have to do something.  
  
Malik: what now?  
  
Daricio: A few reviewers have put forth some very interesting points about the story that I just thought I should share with you. I'm not necessarily putting up only the ones that lead you away from who it really is, or putting up only ones that lead you TO who it really is either. I'm not commenting on anything, or trying to lead you astray, or ANYTHING! I'm simply going to show you what other readers thought. (I'm also not actually showing you the whole review as well...) Ok?  
  
Malik: *half nod* I... Think so... You need to talk in shorter sentances.  
  
Daricio: *blink* I show you other people's reviews. I not being biased. I not trying to trick you or anything. I just showing you. Ok?  
  
Malik: Much better. Now, what did they say?  
  
Daricio: ^_^ This:  
  
~~~  
  
Evil Neptune: "I'm going to stick with Yugi, because it sounds like un- clearing Kaiba was a bit of an afterthought."  
  
Perpetually Hyper One: "I still think that Malik and Yami Bakura are at least involved, and I wouldn't be surprised if Kaiba plays a small part."  
  
Kate Ryou: "Kate: I think Bakura/Yami Bakura still... You know how evil he is. ~ Kathy: But it could have been Yugi/Yami Yugi now. By the way he's been acting. ~ Kate: well, at least it could be Kaiba. He doesn't believe in stuff like that."  
  
Vegetaz-girl: "Kay, I think it could be KAIBA STILL!!!... Or Joey or Yugi... I've narrowed down my suspects, that I have... =^_^= Kay, how's this idea? Harry, Hermione and Ron go to the match thing, (no duh) and Joey tells about whatever he wants to tell about (no duh again) and they figure out that Yugi has a whole nother soul type thing. Then maybe they could find out that Y. Bakura put that dark evil puzzle piece into his puzzle and it possesed Yugi even though he doesn't know it, and they don't know Bakura did it and I am probably way off base because Bakura probably didn't do it wow this is a long sentance."  
  
NekoPlushie: "And when Hermione said it's very apparent that Kaiba had never made potions himself? What if she was wrong, he HAD, but didn't WANT them to have enough for more than one person?"  
  
~~~  
  
Daricio: Great ideas everybody! Note: I didn't put everybody's reviews in here, just the bits of reviews that I thought might help (or not help) people. So don't take offense if I didn't show yours, ok? ok. ^_^  
  
Malik: *sarcastic* You're being really helpful in helping everybody figure out who it is...  
  
Daricio: That would be the point.... Hey, wait... Do you not know who it is?  
  
Malik: -_- *shakes head* You never told ME....  
  
Daricio: ^_^ I'm not going to either! You have to guess like everybody else!  
  
Malik: -_-U Gee, thanks... You don't like making this easy for anybody, do you?  
  
Daricio: Nope! ^_^  
  
Malik: Oh, weren't you going to say something about the Kaiba thing and do a short response to MagicPerson14's review?  
  
Daricio: Oh yeah! I have decided that because all of you object so much about me calling him Seto (for some reason) I'll commence with calling him Kaiba.... ^_^U And don't worry, I WILL actually clear somebody this chappie! Really!  
  
Malik: okay...  
  
Daricio: ^_^ and as for MagicPerson14, you'll have to wait till I get the next chappie of where's Yugi up for the full response to this, because I don't feel like repeating myself and I wrote these author notes after writing the author notes for Where's Yugi... ^_^U  
  
Malik: that's not very nice, making people wait... It's almost as evil as making me wait to see who did it! ...... One question though.. Did I do it???  
  
Daricio: Not saying! *eeeevil grin*  
  
Malik: -_- Dern...  
  
Daricio: OK! Now that the author notes are longer than the chappie will probably be, let's start it!  
  
************************************************************************  
  
It only took the three of them about five minutes to put away most of the potions stuff, separate the potion they had into three stoppable vials, and head down the stairs and over to Yugi's shop, but it was still packed by the time they got there.  
  
They learned from a group of kids standing by the doorway that because Yugi's house was a card shop, whenever he had matches there, Duel Monsters lovers from school would come to do small side duels, talk, trade, eat the refreshments that were served, and buy new cards.  
  
This ensured that Yugi's Grandpa, who ran the shop, would let them do the matches there in the first place, as the large crowd attracted a lot of business.  
  
Harry, Hermione, and Ron squeezed their way into the shop. It was hard to navigate through the room, as there were groups of kids standing in random places, and some sitting or lieing on the floor dueling and trading, like those kids had said.  
  
Harry couldn't see Yugi or Joey anywhere, though.  
  
The trio decided to watch a few of the duels and see if they could figure out the concept of the game while they waited to spot either of them.  
  
As it turned out, they didn't have to wait for very long, because Yugi soon came bounding down the stairs, almost running into somebody at the bottom, with a small grin on his face.  
  
"All right, my room is cleaned, and we can also use the upstairs hall. Everybody, move towards the back of the house so that we're not all crowded in the entryways, ok?" He called.  
  
The crowd soon complied to his order and it was soon much easier to get around.  
  
"Hey, Yugi!" Harry called out to Yugi, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, talking to a few people.  
  
Yugi looked up. His smile faltered momentarily, then he grinned again, gesturing for the three of them to come over.  
  
Harry, Hermione, and Ron did so as best they could, trying not to knock over anybody's decks as they walked, or step on anybody.  
  
When they finally got there, and after a very brief greeting, Yugi led them up the stairs. He poked his head into his room for a moment and called Joey away from a duel, then led the now semi-large group down the hall to an unlit room on the left and at the end.  
  
When everyone was inside the room, Yugi flipped on the lights and closed the door.  
  
Harry blinked at the room. "Hey, Yugi... Mind explaining why we're all in the bathroom?"  
  
Joey looked confused. "I was wonderin that as well, Yuge'..."  
  
Yugi frowned, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub. "Well, you said you wanted a private place to discuss this, and the rest of the rooms in the house are filled with duelists!"  
  
"Even your grandpa's bedroom, Yugi?" Joey asked.  
  
"Well, no, but Grandpa doesn't like people in there while he's trying to mind the shop."  
  
"Not even you?"  
  
Ron cleared his throat.  
  
Yugi blinked. "Oh, right. So what exactly was it you were wanting to talk about?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, right. Harry wanted to know about yer Millennium Puzzle, Yugi..." Joey said.  
  
Yugi blinked. "okay..." he turned to Harry instead. "What about it?"  
  
Harry, now put on the spot somewhat, suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable. "Well.. I was talking to Kaiba, and he said that it had some sort of powers having to do with a "Shadow Realm", and I was talking to Joey, and he said that it was tied into the game of Duel Monsters. How?"  
  
Yugi brightened somewhat and he grinned. "That it? Well that's easy. Duel Monsters is an ancient game that was played by the Egyptians a long time ago. They played it with special shadow powers, from the Shadow Realm. Though, after awhile, those powers began to get out of hand and the monsters of the game became involved in a sort of a war between the Pharaoh and a bunch of rouges. I don't know the exact details, but basically, the Pharaoh decided that in order to save the land from destruction because of the powers, he would lock away the shadow powers into seven Millennium Items."  
  
Harry nodded, thinking. "Kaiba showed us pictures of those...Puzzle, Eye, Necklace, Ring, Rod, Scale, and Key... I didn't know that they had that much magic in them, though..."  
  
Ron looked somewhat surprised at the mention of magic from Egypt, which was the place where his brother worked, studying the stuff, and also where he had visited only about two summers previously. Joey noticed the surprise and he grinned.  
  
"What, you don't believe in magic?" he asked Ron. Ron ducked his head slightly to hide a sudden grin at the irony of this question.  
  
"Kaiba doesn't, that's for sure. That's probably why he didn't tell you about it." Yugi said.  
  
Harry smiled, knowing one of the reasons why Kaiba really didn't like anything related to magic. "So, that's it? That's all there is to the Millennium Items? They have ancient magic?"  
  
"Actually, no. There is more to them. For my puzzle, at any rate. Let me show you." Yugi said, closing his eyes.  
  
Hermione and Ron both looked interested.  
  
Suddenly, the puzzle grew very bright, enveloping the room in light for a few brief seconds before growing dimmer gradually until it was back to its normal brightness.  
  
Harry blinked away the spots from his eyes. He was a bit shocked to see that because the sudden light had startled them, he had impulsively reached for his wand, which was safely tucked away, and that he had brought it out halfway. He quickly stuffed it back out of sight.  
  
Only then did he look around the bathroom, trying to see what changes had been made to the room.  
  
What he saw was even more shocking than the realization that he had pulled out his wand! Where Yugi had been sitting on the edge of the bathtub, there were now TWO Yugi's sitting there!  
  
(DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!!!!)  
  
One of the Yugi's was taller than the other, and Harry could tell which one was the one he had been talking to before, but it was still very strange. "Whoa." he gasped. "Where'd you come from?"  
  
Ron stared at the taller, more regal looking one for a moment, his mind racing. Suddenly, something in his head clicked and he grinned. "Bloody hell..." he breathed. "You're the Pharaoh, Yami, aren't you?"  
  
Yami looked faintly surprised at the recognision, but gave a half nod. "Yes. How did you know?"  
  
"My brother works up in Egypt, studying the anceint culture, and he told me about you. Well, it was in a letter, so it was kinda breif... But he did mention that you sealed your soul into an item... I had no idea that that story of his was connected to the Millennium Items!" Ron said, sounding excited.  
  
Yugi smiled. "So your brother's an archeologist? Like Grandpa?"  
  
Ron paused. "Well... Not quite... But sort of, I suppose..."  
  
"Well, still, that's cool." Yugi said. "That takes out a whole lot of explaining for us to do."  
  
Yami nodded. "So, why is it you were interested in the Millennium Items, anyway?" he asked calmly.  
  
After a moment's hesitation, Hermione spoke up, "Well, you see, we all really admire our older brother, the one in Egypt, and... Well, Kaiba told us about the items, and we wanted to see if we could get more information about them than he would be able to."  
  
Yugi nodded. "That makes sence. Sibling rivalry, huh?"  
  
"Yup." Harry said.  
  
"So... is that all you wanted to know?" Yami asked.  
  
Hermione, Ron, and Harry all looked at each other for a moment, before deciding that since there was no way to get them to take any truth serums right then, they'd just ask later. "Yeah, that's about it. Thanks a ton!" Hermione said for them.  
  
"No problem." Yugi said. He went over to open the door and let them all out of the stuffy bathroom, and Yami quickly disappeared back into the puzzle.  
  
The moment Yugi stepped out of the door, a kid from his school saw him and told him that it was time for his duel to begin and that people were looking for him.  
  
They hurried down the hall and Joey followed after them, grinning to himself.  
  
Ron, Hermione, and Harry went off into a corner to discuss what they had just found out.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure whether he's using the powers of the puzzle for good or for bad, but now we know what Kaiba was talking about when he said that the Items had power." Ron shrugged. "That's about all the information we got out of that."  
  
Hermione shook her head. "This is frustrating. It's hard to figure out who did or didn't make Hogwarts disappear. There's just nothing to ask anybody that would work!"  
  
Harry sighed. "We'll just have to see if we can sneak some of that truth serum into anybody's punch... Only a few people are actually drinking the stuff Yugi has set out, though..."  
  
"Probably worried that somebody spiked it." Hermione mumbled.  
  
"That somebody whated it?"  
  
"Never mind, Ron."  
  
"Hey, look over there!" Harry said, suddenly noticing a group of people standing somewhat close to the duel, all three of them drinking punch. "It's Tea, Tristan, and Bakura!"  
  
"You're right! Let's see if we can talk to them." Hermione said.  
  
"All right!" Ron grinned. "Maybe we'll actually get some real information out of this!"  
  
"How about only one of us go over there this time?" Hermione suggested suddenly. "I mean, it's kind of... I dunno... If three kids all suddenly advanced on me wanting answers to some questions, I'd be either nervous or very annoyed..."  
  
Ron thought about this. "Good idea. How about Harry go?"  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"Because you're the one who dragged us into this when the Ministry of Magic could have taken care of it all themselves!" Ron said importantly.  
  
"The Ministry of Magic is made up of a huge load of idiots, Ron.... Besides your dad, but he doesn't count. Personally, I wouldn't trust them to take care of a flubberworm for me, much less the survival of our school and possibly of the whole wizarding world!" Harry said hotly.  
  
"You're still the one who suggested we come here." Ron pouted.  
  
"Come on you two, act your age." Hermione sighed, rolling her eyes. "If you wanna act like a bunch of PMS-y, whiney, five year old girls, that's fine with me, but do it AFTER we finish up here, and NOT in front of me!"  
  
Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, Hermione."  
  
"I still think Harry should go." Ron put in.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at them again. "Honestly..."  
  
Harry grinned. "Fine, I'll go."  
  
He took the truth serum from Hermione and grabbed himself a punch from the snack table, then jogged over to Tea, Tristan, and Bakura.  
  
"Hey guys." he said. "What's up? Besides the duel, that is..."  
  
Tea smiled. "Yugi's winning!"  
  
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Duh, Tea. He ALWAYS wins."  
  
"He does?" Harry asked. "How come?"  
  
"He's the best, that's why." Tea said.  
  
"Also, Yami helps him alot." Bakura put in. About a second after he said it, he realized what it was he said. "Um, I mean..."  
  
All three of them got a look on their faces that said, "Pleeeeease don't ask me to explain that to you..."  
  
"I know who Yami is." Harry said quickly. "Yugi told me. How does he help?"  
  
He was mostly just making semi-idle chatter, trying to steer the conversation in such a way that would be helpful in asking them the right questions.  
  
"Oh, this and that." Tristan said. "Mostly by giving him advice during a duel."  
  
"And sometimes..." Bakura added softly. "Yami merges with Yugi so they're both dueling at the same time... Like now, for instance. If you look at him, you can see that it's actually Yami that's up there rather than Yugi."  
  
Harry looked. Bakura was right. It was Yami that was up there. "I see... Isn't that sort of like taking over him? Sorta possessing him?"  
  
"Sort of..." Tristan said, wrinkling his nose. "It's not a very pleasent way of putting it, though..."  
  
"Definitely not pleasant." Bakura added, giving a small involuntary shudder at the thought.  
  
"I suppose so." Harry said, nodding. "It's still weird to think about."  
  
"It sure is." Tea said. "But it's kind of cool, too."  
  
"So," Harry ventured slowly. "Has anything weird like that been happening... recently?"  
  
During the conversation, he had sneaked the truth serum into their drinks, so if anything had been happening with any of these three, it would come out now.  
  
"Not weird like that, really." Tristan said, shrugging. "Weird like, Yugi being all quiet ever since you an your brother an sister got here... and weird like Malik coming to Domino about a week ago and starting school with us..."  
  
"And you three being here, of course. That could count as weird." Tea added, blinking slowly at what she just said. "Not that that's bad or anything, but... Sorry..."  
  
"No, that's ok." Harry grinned. "We're all pretty weird people..."  
  
He glanced at Bakura, who was mildly listening to the conversation, but who was mostly staring downward in the general direction of his drink, although it was obvious that his mind was on other things. Something that was mentioned in the conversation, maybe.  
  
But he wasn't saying anything... Had he taken a drink since he had slipped in the serum? He'd have to make sure...  
  
"So... You like the punch, Bakura?" he said, smiling at Bakura.  
  
Hearing his name shook Bakura out of his slight daze and he looked up. He blinked, realized what Harry had said, then drained his cup. "Yeah, it's ok." he said quietly, like he usually did. "I think it's a little watered down, though."  
  
Harry grinned. "Yeah? I thought so too. So do you think anything weird has been happening lately?"  
  
Bakura shrugged. "Not really, no. Nothing that's too out of the ordinary."  
  
Harry nodded slowly. "Hmmm." he looked around at the group of three around him, who were now giving him curious looks.  
  
"So, why do you want to know about weird things, anyway, Harry?" Tristan asked somewhat suspiciously.  
  
Harry shrugged. "No particular reason. I just like weird things. It's fun trying to figure out what causes weird things. What makes them happen, and such."  
  
Harry felt kind of dumb, knowing that he was way overusing the words "weird" and "thing," but he wanted to remain as specific as possible, at least until he got some answers...  
  
"Ah. I see." Tea said, the look on her face saying that she really didn't see, but she didn't want to be rude.  
  
"Why were you so interested in Bakura's drink?" Tristan asked.  
  
"I was just commenting on the punch." Harry said somewhat defensively, shrugging his shoulders.  
  
They were becoming suspicious of his questions, plus, judging by the way Tea had told him that she got what he was saying even though she didn't, the truth serums were wearing off. Strange... Harry had thought that truth serums would last a lot longer than that short amount of time...  
  
Thankfully, Hermione must have seen that he was looking somewhat nervous, because she suddenly called out across the room, "Hey Harry! Come see this!"  
  
Harry grinned somewhat sheepishly at Tea, Tristan, and Bakura, and gave them all a quick, "see ya later," and hurried quickly over to Hermione.  
  
"What is it?" he asked. "and thanks." he muttered to her a little more quietly.  
  
"No problem. You looked like you needed help." she murmered back. Then she spoke normally again, "Ron and I have been watching duels, and I think we've got the basic idea down of how to play..."  
  
"It sounds like fun." Ron added. "Especially with the whole Shadow Magic thing to go with it. I might just see go Yugi's grandpa about gettin me a deck of my own."  
  
"Except that you don't have any money..." Harry reminded him.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "How much does a deck cost, usually?" she asked a kid near her.  
  
"Uhhh... It's usually about $10 for a starter deck, and then $3.99 per booster pack." The kid answered her, turning back to his duel. "Yugi's grandpa has prices for that kind of stuff downstairs in the shop, if you wanna go down and look."  
  
Hermione nodded. She then promptly led her two "brothers" downstairs to look at prices for the Duel Monster cards.  
  
She obviously had some way of getting money... Harry grinned, wondering if she had enough to buy him a deck, too. Ron was right, Duel Monsters sounded like fun...  
  
****************************************************************************  
  
Daricio: Ha! I figured out a way to work in Harry getting a deck! ^.^  
  
Malik: Daricio, what exactly are you wearing???  
  
Daricio: *is wearing a purple fuzzy bathrobe over jeans and a sweatshirt with dark blue eyeshadow painted under her eyes and bobby pins in her hair making it look really really messed up* ^_^U It's my Halloween costume...  
  
Malik: o.O What are you supposed to be?  
  
Daricio: The scariest beast in the world.... Me in the morning!!!! ^_^  
  
Malik: Very nice...  
  
Random Reviewers: *suddenly appear and begin hucking rotten bananas at Daricio*  
  
Bananas: *splat*  
  
Daricio: *covered with rotten bananas* -_-UUUU Now I'm "Me in the morning ala rotten banana."  
  
Malik: Well, you DID give them permisson...  
  
Random Reviewers: *evil grins* *tossing more rotten bananas at Daricio*  
  
Daricio: ^_^U Ok, ok, enough with the bananas allready! Sorry for not updating until after November started... ^_^UUU  
  
Random Reviewers: *spot Malik* *evil grin* *huck rotten bananas at him, too*  
  
Malik: O.O Ack!!! *brandishes shield given to him by Flaed in a review of Where's Yugi*  
  
RR: -_- Dern.  
  
Malik: whew!  
  
Daricio: *shoos RR out of author room* ^_^UUUUUU Alrightly then... Reviews are very welcome! Ideas are welcome! Heck, even flames are welcome!  
  
Malik: Translation: *acts like zombie in imitation of Daricio* uuuuuuuuggggghhhh....... Must.................. have............... reviews...............  
  
Daricio: That's very funny, Malik.  
  
Malik: ^_^ Isn't it, though?  
  
Daricio: ^_^U Anyhows, byez until next time, everyone! Review!!  
  
--Daricio 


	8. Dueling and confirming clearings

(Sigh) Here I am, being reduced to using parenthesis in order to put actions, and left desolate without my ability to create happy anime eyes on the computer, all because of stupid Quickedit.  
  
Malik: (Nods) Tell me about it. It's SO hard to simply remember to put the parenthesis instead of the asterisks. (Rolls eyes)  
  
Daricio: Tell me about it.  
  
Malik: -.- I have GOT to teach you about sarcasm...  
  
Daricio: OK! (happy anime face)  
  
Malik: (sigh)  
  
Roo: Is she always this annoying?  
  
Malik: (Shakes head)  
  
Roo: GOOD.  
  
Malik: Sometimes she's worse.  
  
Roo: (groan)  
  
Daricio: (big happy anime face) Anyways, welcome to the next chapter of Where's Yugi!!! I mean Millennium Magic! I mean, whatever story this one is!!!  
  
Bakura: (clap clap clap clap)  
  
Roo: (With very forced I'm-being-bribed-to-do-this happy look) (clap clap clap clap)  
  
Daricio: (cheesy grin) Let's go!  
  
Malik: SO... do you have any notes for this chapter?  
  
Daricio: (very annoying I-know-something-you-don't-know look) Nope! I'm going straight into the ficcie this time.  
  
Malik: uh huh.... Any chance of telling me who the bad guy of the fic is?  
  
Daricio: (same look) Nope!  
  
Malik: Rats.

* * *

As Hermione walked swiftly down the stairs, she began to mumble under her breath. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, thinking this to be rather strange, but shrugged and continued to follow her.  
  
Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Hermione walked as quickly as was possible with all the people all over the floor to the front counter where Yugi's grandfather was standing.  
  
"I'd like a few starter decks, please sir!" Hermione said sweetly.  
  
Mr. Moto smiled. "Of course, young lady. All of our starter decks are $10.99. What kinds would you like?"  
  
"Oh, there are different kinds?"  
  
"Yes, there are different starter decks that you can get depending on what kind of deck you want to have. For example, there's a fire based deck, an earth based deck, a plant based deck, a water based deck, a spellcaster based deck, and a few others." Mr. Moto explained.  
  
Hermione, Ron, and Harry grinned.  
  
"Spellcaster sounds cool." Harry said. "What kind of cards are in it?"  
  
"Mostly magician cards, spellcasters, stuff like that. There's a lot of really good magic cards in the Magician booster packs, too. I can get you some of those as well." Mr. Moto said, his eyes twinkling. "50% off, since you're Yugi's friends."  
  
Hermione smiled. "You don't need to do that." She said. Mr. Moto insisted. Hermione just grinned. "Well, I'm pretty sure we all want spellcaster starter decks, and then we can each have a few booster packs as well! I think I'll also have an earth starter deck, so that I can pick and choose which ones I want."  
  
Mr. Moto nodded. "That's a good strategy. One of the best ways to win is to surprise your opponent by having a double based deck, actually. Just make sure you don't get too random with the cards you put in, or you won't be able to have a clear strategy."  
  
Harry grinned. "I think I'll do that too. Hermione, you have enough money to get me a Fire starter deck as well?"  
  
"And me a Dark one?" Ron put in.  
  
Hermione nodded. "I do." She turned back to Mr. Moto. "So add those in too, okay?" She asked politely.  
  
Mr. Moto nodded and gave her a half bow. "Of course, little miss." He turned to get the requested cards.  
  
Harry leaned over to whisper to Hermione. "Are you sure you have enough money? I can't even really convert Knuts and galleons into English pounds, much less convert pounds to American money, but I still get the feeling that 6 starter decks at 11 bucks each plus however much all those booster packs are is a LOT of money..."  
  
Hermione grinned secretively. "I know. I have enough, don't worry."  
  
Ron glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow at her confidence of this. "How many knuts ARE to a pound, anyway?"  
  
Hermione laughed. She was about to tell him the exact amounts required to add up to a pound, but then Mr. Moto returned with the things.  
  
"Is this all?" He asked.  
  
Hermione nodded, then asked what the total was.  
  
Mr. Moto gave a small smile. "Normally, $101.91 for six starter decks and 3 booster packs each for you, but since you're Yugi's friends..."  
  
Hermionie shook her head. "No, that's ok; we can pay the full thing. I don't want to take advantage of being friends with Yugi."  
  
Harry raised an eyebrow. He still wasn't entirely sure, but $100 still sounded like a lot of money to him. Where did Hermione get that much cash to throw around??  
  
Hermione quickly pulled out a crisp $100 American bill along with a five and handed it to Mr. Moto before he could protest.  
  
His eyes were open a little wider than usual as he counted out and handed Hermione her change. He gave her their items in a slightly large bag.  
  
Hermione thanked him, and they walked away from the counter.  
  
As soon as they sat down at a small table in the corner of the shop near the staircase, Hermione decided to explain her sudden wealth.  
  
"It's a charm that the Ministry of Magic people often use." She said, "I read about it in one of their "unofficial information" books that a group of ex-members published. Basically, it makes it so that you can create any amount of muggle money of any type at will for a certain period of time until the charm wears off."  
  
Ron grinned. "Neat trick, that."  
  
Hermione nodded, grinning. Then she handed out everyone's packs to them. "I'll teach it to you sometime."  
  
As they began to open the starter decks, Harry asked, "So exactly how much money WAS that, anyway? He seemed surprised at the amount."  
  
Hermione nodded. "It was a little expensive... These Duel Monster cards definitely aren't cheap, that's for sure." She said. She made a quick calculation in her head, then said, "I think the price we paid today is equivalent to about... 57 pounds, since 1 US dollar equals about 0.56 pounds... And it's about 21 Galleons, 3 sickles..."  
  
Ron and Harry looked from her, to the merchandise, then back to her again. "All that for just cards?" Harry asked.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Yup. Like I said, expensive."  
  
(A/n: That IS expensive! O.o I didn't realize it was that much until I did all the calculations with my calculator using the prices that the card shop near my house uses! And the starter decks are actually cheaper here in the story than in real life!!! And by the way, me like internet currency converters... Even found one for wizard money!)  
  
As Harry opened the Starter Decks, he realized that each one came with a field and a rulebook as well as the cards. He flipped through the rulebook, getting the idea of the game, then he began looking at the cards and trying to decide which ones to keep in his deck. Ron and Hermione did the same.  
  
Compared to most of the cards he could see being played in the duels all around him, most of the cards in both starter decks were pretty average, except for the main useful ones like Trap Hole and Waboku.  
  
In the Spellcaster starter deck there was some pretty good cards such as Magician of Faith, Enchanted Javelin, and Neo the Magic Swordsman.  
  
In the Fire starter deck that he had gotten, there was a Flame Swordsman, a Fire Princess, a Hinotama magic card, and a Fire Serpent.  
  
In his booster packs was where all the really cool cards were, though. Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, Magician of Black Chaos, Lava Golem, Wizaroyou, and quite a few others.  
  
As he shuffled through the cards, he was strangely able to find some of them that resembled some of the magical creatures that existed only in the wizarding world. For example, the Fire Serpent looked like a Basilisk that was surrounded by flames. In one of his booster packs, he had found a card called Stamping of Dragons that featured a Norwegian Ridgeback. There was even a card called a Blast-Ended Skrewt!!  
  
But the strangest one of all was one that was called "Winning Hope of the One." It was a magic card. The picture was all black except for a faint glow in the center. If you looked closely at the card, you could see two people standing, swords out, facing each other in a duel. Or at least that's how it seemed. Having seen the scene before from the point of view of one of those two duelists, Harry knew their weapons to be wands. And he knew his opponent to be Voldemort.  
  
Harry breathlessly showed the card to Hermione and Ron. "Look at this... It's strange..."  
  
"What's strange?"  
  
Harry turned and grinned at Yugi who was now behind them smiling curiously.  
  
"Hey Yugi, did you win?" Harry asked.  
  
Yugi nodded, putting on his trademark kawaii grin. "Yup! You guys get some cards from Grandpa?"  
  
"Sure did! Hey Yugi, have you ever seen this card?" Harry asked, showing him the Winning Hope of the One card.  
  
Yugi took it and looked it over, then he nodded. "Yeah, I've seen it! It's an extremely rare, extremely cheap card." He said. "Really cool that you got it!"  
  
"What's it do?" Harry asked, looking at it over Yugi's shoulder.  
  
"If you have a spellcaster on the field that is being attacked, you can activate this card. It brings the opponent's monster's attack points down to zero, making your opponent take direct life point damage equal to the attack of your spellcaster. Then, it removes all monsters belonging to your opponent of the type of the opposing monster from play, including ones that are in his deck and the ones on the field." Yugi said. "This really sucks if you have a deck that has all of one type and your opponent uses it on you."  
  
Harry grinned. "Cool. What's the picture of?"  
  
Yugi shrugged. "I'm not sure, actually. Looks almost like two swordfighters dueling each other at midnight or something, really. If you look really really closely here in the corner here by the smaller duelist, you can see that he appears to be backed up by a small army of ghosts, while the other is backed up by a small army of normal people."  
  
Harry looked, and indeed that is what he saw. It also further confirmed to him just what that scene was of.  
  
Yugi grinned. "Hey, when you get your deck put together, you want to duel?"  
  
Harry smiled. "Sure! That'll be fun!"  
  
He continued shuffling the cards around, searching for the ones he wanted to keep in his deck. When he finally finished a few minutes later, he had 45 cards in his deck.  
  
"Ok, let's duel!" Harry said, grinning. He pulled out one of the placemat- like fields from his starter decks and placed his deck on the correct spot. Yugi did the same with a field of his own. Both drew their hands.  
  
Harry barely had time to even look at what cards he drew, however, before a group of people, all robed in brown cloaks, swished into the shop.  
  
"It's the Ministry of Magic!" Hermione hissed. She, Harry, and Ron all stood at the same time, Harry dropping his cards, and scurried from the room, whispering a "be right back" to Yugi, who looked rather confused.  
  
They raced up the stairs and locked themselves in the bathroom again. They all held their breaths as they listened to the sounds out the door, hoping that nobody in the Ministry had spotted them.  
  
"Why are they here??" Ron asked in hushed tones, clearly out of breath.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "You expect us to know??"  
  
Suddenly, Harry realized that the answer to that question was. "It was Hermione's spell."  
  
Hermione and Ron stopped and stared at him.  
  
"What do you mea-"  
  
"Of Course!" Hermione groaned, slapping her forehead. "The Ministry of Magic has been over here tracking MAGIC, trying to find the source of it!"  
  
Harry nodded. "Meaning that we just put Yugi on the Ministry's suspect list."  
  
Ron shrugged. "So? He's already on OUR list, why not keep him under their eye as well?"  
  
"Because they like to bungle things up, that's why." Harry returned.  
  
Ron grinned.  
  
The room fell into silence for a while as they continued listening for sounds besides their own breathing.  
  
"What about our potion?" Ron asked suddenly. "Shouldn't they have tracked that as well? What if they've already been over there looking at the mess we probably left with it?!"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so. For one thing, potions don't really require magic to make, just the right magical ingredients. And if the Ministry went seeking out every tiny bit of magical ingredients around here, they'd never get anything done. For another, I cleaned up our 'mess'. But Harry, speaking of the potion, what did Tea, Bakura, and Tristan say?"  
  
Harry shrugged. "Nothing, really. Bakura was quiet, but then he's always like that. And when I asked them if anything weird had been happening, all of them agreed that the strangest thing was that we had shown up here in Domino. That and the fact that Malik also showed up here. Apparently, he lives in Egypt normally. But anyway, I think that they're innocent, guys. All three of them."  
  
Hermione and Ron nodded. "I agree." Hermione said. "So that's three cleared, now for the rest of them."  
  
"Right... Just as soon as the Minist-"  
  
There was a knock on the bathroom door. All of them froze, keeping quiet in case it was the Ministry.  
  
"Guys?" It was Yugi. "You can come out now. Those weird robed guys are gone."  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged uneasy glances, wondering how much Yugi had heard, before getting up and exiting the bathroom.  
  
Yugi grinned at them. "So, who were those guys anyway? Why don't you want them to find you?"  
  
"Let's just say that if they catch us here, we're in big doo doo." Ron said.  
  
"Here as in my house?" Yugi asked.  
  
"No, Domino in general." Ron said without thinking. Hermione kicked him.  
  
Yugi thought about this for a moment, then shrugged and bounded down the stairs. "Come on, Harry, let's finish our duel!"  
  
"Yeah!" Harry grinned.  
  
As they followed the small energetic teen (who happened to actually be only a few puny inches shorter than the author -.-) Hermione hissed at Ron. (she does this a lot.) "He's still a suspect, don't be telling him stuff!"  
  
Run just shrugged.  
  
Harry and Yugi took their seats and Harry picked up his hand again. "Let's duel!"  
  
Harry grinned. "Can I go first?" he asked.  
  
Yugi nodded. "Sure!"  
  
"Thanks." Harry looked over his hand. "Let's see... I'll play one card face down and another card in defense mode. Then I'll end my turn."  
  
Yugi smiled and drew a card. "I'll play a card face down as well, and then I'll play the Celtic Guardian in attack mode! I'll have him attack your face down card!"  
  
Harry hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should activate his face down, then decided against it and let the Celtic Guardian destroy his defense mode Sorcerer's Apprentice, forcing Yugi to reveal what his face down card was. It was just an equip card, and it was flipped back face down.  
  
"Your move, Harry."  
  
Harry nodded. "I'll..." he looked disappointed in the card he just drew and laid it face down. "I'll just play defense again. Your move."  
  
Yugi smiled. "I'll sacrifice my Celtic Guardian for the Summoned Skull!" He considered for a moment. "I'll attack your defense monster."  
  
Harry nodded and discarded his now-destroyed Mystical Elf. Yugi grinned again. "Your move."  
  
"I draw." He looked at the card he drew. "I play the magic card Ookazi!" he announced, placing the card down. Yugi frowned.  
  
"Ow. That took almost a quarter of my life points..." (they're playing with 4000 life points)  
  
Harry grinned. "Yup! And now, I'll play the magic card Revolt! It allows me to summon one monster from my hand that is level 5 or higher without having to tribute for it. And I choose to summon the Dark Magician!"  
  
Yugi looked surprised. "cool! That's my favorite card!" he said, grinning.  
  
Harry smiled. "I'll lay another card face down and let the turn shift to you, then."  
  
Yugi grinned wider. "Don't want to get rid of your Dark Magician by attacking my Summoned Skull and destroying them both, huh?" he asked. "Ok. I'll activate my face down equip card, Black Pendant! It raises the Summoned Skull's attack points by 500, making him a 3000 attack point monster!"  
  
Harry blinked. "Oh boy..."  
  
Yugi laughed a little. "Sorry, Harry. I hate destroying the Dark Magician, but here goes. Summoned Skull, attack!"  
  
Harry flipped one of his face downs. "Enchanted Javelin!" Then he flipped the other one. "Magical Cylinder!"  
  
Yugi's eyes widened. "Ow," was all he said. (LP: 200)  
  
Hermione and Ron cheered for Harry. "Cool!"  
  
Harry grinned. (LP: 7000)  
  
Yugi grinned once again, laughing. "I underestimated you." He said. "Now, let's go. Your move."  
  
Harry drew his card, then switched his Dark Magician to defense mode. Then he played a face down card and laid another card in defense mode. "All right, now I'm ready for your attacks! Your move!"  
  
Yugi nodded. "Ok! Now, I summon Kuriboh, in attack mode! I'll attack your face down card with Summoned Skull!"  
  
Harry flipped and discarded his face down Chameleo, a four star fire monster with 400 attack and 2000 defense.  
  
Yugi smirked. "Your move, Harry."  
  
Harry smiled. "All right." He drew his card and grinned. "I play the magic card Soul Exchange, along with this Ritual card! It allows me to summon Magician of Black Chaos in exchange for a sacrifice, a sacrifice which just happens to be your two monsters!"  
  
Yugi laughed. "Now you're starting to sound like Yami with your card announcing..."  
  
Harry smiled. "Is that an insult, or a compliment?"  
  
"I think I'll choose not to answer that question." Yugi said, eyes sparkling. Harry could almost sense an aura of annoyance coming from within him that was obviously Yami.  
  
Harry laughed, and continued placing his monster on the field. "Anyway, I now have two monsters on the field, but unfortunately, I can't attack due to Soul Exchange's secondary effect, so I'll end my turn."  
  
Yugi nodded and drew his card. "I'll play one card face down, and one card in defensive mode. Then, I'll end my turn."  
  
"Ok." Harry drew. "I'll play a monster in defense. Then, with Magician of Black Chaos, I'll attack your face down card."  
  
"Not so fast. I activate Negate Attack!" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
Harry nodded. "That ends my battle phase, doesn't it?"  
  
Yugi nodded. "Sure does! My turn?"  
  
"Yeah, I suppose."  
  
"Ok. I'll place another monster in defense mode and another card face down. Go."  
  
Harry smiled. "How come you keep just defending?"  
  
Yugi shrugged. "Waiting for a card to hurry up and get into my hand. Stalling for time."  
  
"Ah." Harry said. "I'll sacrifice face down card for Flame Champion in attack mode. Flame Champion, attack Yugi's face dow-"  
  
"Waboku, activate!"  
  
"... I see what you mean by stalling for time. You know how annoying it is to have three powerful monsters on the field and not be able to attack?" Harry said jokingly.  
  
"That's how I feel when I play Chess..." Ron mumbled. "Harry always traps me..."  
  
Yugi giggled. "Like I said, just trying to get a certain card into my hand. I get the feeling I'm going to draw it now."  
  
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "And does your Millennium Item have anything to do with this 'feeling' that you have?"  
  
Yugi grinned sheepishly. "Sort of... It only works like that because of the trust that I have in my deck, though. That's called the Heart of the Cards. I trust my monsters, and they trust me."  
  
Ron looked confused. "That sounds..."  
  
Hermione finished for him. "Somewhat like rubbish? Just a little... I mean, it's just a card game, right?"  
  
Yugi shook his head. "Not really. The monsters used to be real, remember? And the souls of those monsters have stayed with their images on these cards. And 'cause Yami used to be Pharaoh, certain cards that used to be his guardians are now still very loyal to him, and to me in turn. Especially the Dark Magician."  
  
Harry nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I see."  
  
Hermione nodded as well. "OK, so it's not dumb. Sorry."  
  
Yugi shrugged. "No, that's ok." He said. "On with the duel! It's my turn, I believe?"  
  
Harry nodded. "It is."  
  
Yugi drew his card and grinned, showing to Harry that he had drawn the Dark Magician. Harry grinned as well.  
  
Yugi placed a magic card on the field. "Swords of Revealing Light!"  
  
Harry groaned. "More delays?"  
  
Yugi grinned innocently and played a card in defense mode along with his other two. "Your move."  
  
Harry drew his card. "All right then, I'll play defense and wait. Your move."  
  
Yugi drew. "Ok, I'll play the Feral Imp in attack mode, one card face down, and end my turn."  
  
Harry raised an eyebrow. "In attack mode, Yugi?" Yugi nodded happily. Harry shrugged. "Fine, whatever... You're the game king..."  
  
Yugi grinned impishly. "It's your move!" he chirped.  
  
Harry nodded. "All right! I'll sacrifice my facedown card for Lady of Darkness. (ATK: 2400 DEF: 1450 Spellcaster type) and now, I'll activate this magic card: Mystical Space Typhoon! Wiping out your swords a turn early!"  
  
Yugi looked surprised.  
  
"Now, Magician of Black Chaos! Attack his Feral Imp and take out the rest of his life points!" Harry ordered. He grinned.  
  
Yugi grinned too. "You fell right into my trap! One of my favorites: Mirror Force!"  
  
Harry blanched. "What?? But... That destroys all of the monsters I have on the field!" he cried. "And I already summoned this turn, so there's nothing to guard my life points against attacks from you!"  
  
Yugi looked heroic for a moment. "Exactly."  
  
Harry looked down. "End turn."  
  
Yugi drew. "Now, I sacrifice three of my four monsters on the field for my ultimate monster: Saint Dragon, God of Osirus! Normally, I can't play this card, since doing it blows out all of the holograph projectors, but when we're not playing a holo-duel, it's ok."  
  
Harry stared at the card. "What is it??"  
  
"One of the three Egyptian God Cards." Joey said, suddenly appearing beside them from the small crowd watching the duel. "Yugi, I thought you keep those cards for safekeeping, not walking around with them in your dueling deck..."  
  
Yugi shrugged. "They feel bad if I don't let them out every now and then" Joey rolled his eyes.  
  
"What does it do?" Harry asked.  
  
"Each of the God Cards has a different ability. They're very basically unbeatable. With this particular God Card, its attack points change according to the amount of cards in the player's hand. 1000 per card. At the moment, I have 6 cards in my hand, so its attack is 6000." Yugi explained. "But now I activate my face down card. An equip card! Because its an Egyptian God Card, Magic cards only work on it for one turn, and Traps don't work at all. The equip card? Ax of Despair."  
  
Harry smiled a little. "Bringing it up to 7000 attack points, huh?" he asked.  
  
"Yup!" Yugi grinned. "I attack you directly with Osirus!"  
  
Harry checked his face down cards, seeing if there was anything at all he could do, before he gathered up his cards and shook hands with Yugi. "Good duel."  
  
Both grinned at each other. It had indeed been a good duel. (Especially since Yugi would have won even without his god Card...)

* * *

Once they were all back at the house that night, Hermione took out a--  
  
DVD, GO AWAY. (DVD: Squeegee! (Makes weird mumbly noises))  
  
Anyway, Hermione took out a piece of parchment and a quill. She then began to write down the names of all of the suspects, listing them off aloud as she did so. "Ok, we have Kaiba and/or his brother, Yugi and/or his yami, Joey, Malik, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura. The last three are the only ones who have been cleared, so that leaves us with 4 main suspects, 6 if you include Mokuba and Yami." She said.  
  
Harry nodded. "That sounds about right."  
  
Ron sighed. "This is going too slowly." He noted.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Excruciatingly so." She agreed. "But there's not any more we can do tonight, so we might as well get to bed. Who's got which floor again?"  
  
Ron immediately claimed the third floor.  
  
Harry shrugged. "I'll take the second floor."  
  
"Ok, I'll stay on the first floor tonight, then." Hermione said. They all three wearily went to their respective floors and settled down for the night.  
  
As Harry began to drift off to sleep, he looked out the window, into Yugi's window across the alleyway. Yugi had the shades closed, but Harry could see images drift around the room as silhouettes.  
  
He sighed, watching the shadows. It was strange to think that their next door neighbor for now was one of their suspects, even after he had been so nice to them.  
  
Sort of like Bakura. Harry was glad that he, at least, was cleared of the deed. Now he could only hope that all the other friends he had made could have the same done for them. Especially Yugi.  
  
The light in Yugi's room turned off, and Harry finally fell asleep.

* * *

Daricio: Done with that! Yay! (cheesy grin) I suck at writing duels...  
  
Malik: -.- You still didn't reveal who the bad guy was.  
  
Daricio: Duh, Malik. I've still got to do about 3 or 4 more chapters in this story, and you only get to know who did it in the last one.  
  
Malik: -.- Meanie.  
  
Daricio: (rolls eyes) Anyways, review! Who do you think did it now?


	9. Clearing Joey

Daricio: Ok, here's the next chapter of Millennium Magic. And boy, this one will suuuure be fun.  
  
Malik: You sure don't sound like you're having fun with this.  
  
Daricio: -.- That's because QuickEdit stole my happy faces from me. (Sticks tongue out at QuickEdit) I don't mind the asterisk thing so much, except that I constantly forget to use parenthesis, but now I can't make my happy face. And they stole my divider thingys too.  
  
Malik: (pat pat)  
  
Daricio: (sniff) thanks. But any way, (forced looking happy face) Hello everybody! No real notes to speak of, unless I think of any, in which case it will be addressed at the end of the chapter, so let's just get on with the story, shall we?  
  
Malik: Any chance of-  
  
Daricio: (grin) Nope!  
  
(-----Divider----)  
  
The next day at school was rather boring, as usual. Harry, Hermione, and Ron didn't really have any more ideas for how to prove people innocent of the deed.  
  
When they met up with Kaiba in the first period, he apologized for there not being enough ingredients, but according to him, what he had given them was all that he had in terms of those particular substances.  
  
Apparently, rich as he was, he was only allowed to buy a certain amount of wizarding stuff or else he'd have the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department (The one where Ron's dad worked) on him in a flash, since he wasn't technically a wizard and so shouldn't have too much wizard stuff.  
  
When he told them this, he said it with a huge scowl on his face. He apparently reeeeeally wasn't pleased with the Ministry of Magic. (Or maybe just not pleased that he was a squib...?)  
  
Then they had to deal with the teachers of their different periods, (Especially their Math teacher and except for their first period English teacher,) because of homework not being completed. (well, except for Hermione, of course.)  
  
But now school was out, and the three were still at a loss for any ideas. There wasn't exactly much you could do besides ask people and hope they tell the truth when it came to mysteries like these, and in this case they weren't allowed to ask anybody in the first place anyway.  
  
Hermione had come up with the idea of inviting one of them, like Yugi, over to their "house" so that they could get a tour of the town as well as have an afternoon to get to know him and to come up with a plan, and she tried it now.  
  
She turned to the group. "Hey, Yugi... Yugi? Hey, Tea, where's Yugi at?"  
  
Tea shrugged. "I'm not sure. Right after we all walked out of the school, he told me that he had something to do today and he ran off in the other direction... It was rather strange, really..."  
  
Harry frowned. Disappearing like that was rather suspicious... But oh well. They'd have to try out their plan tomorrow when they saw him again... For now, they were once again idea-less.  
  
Tea, Joey, and Tristan broke off one way after a while to head towards their houses, and they walked a ways with just themselves and Bakura before he also went off down the street towards his house.  
  
"We could... nah..." Ron said, speaking up and breaking the silence between the three of them as they walked down the road towards their temporary home.  
  
"What, Ron?" Hermione asked. "We need ideas badly."  
  
Ron shook his head. "No, never mind. Now that I think about it, it'd still put us right back in the same situation we're in now, with no new info..." he said, looking back down at the sidewalk as they went.  
  
Harry frowned and also looked back down, thinking hard. What could they possibly do to figure out something about the criminal?  
  
His mind wandered to Dudley's old Mystery movies he used to watch all the time, the ones he would hide out in the halls with his eyes pressed to Dudley's door crack in order to find some form of entertainment, and he tried to think of what any one of them would do.  
  
He couldn't seem to make any of the scenarios from the movies fit in any way shape or form to his own, though, and there were always the same problems coming up in those strategies that there were in his own.  
  
He sighed, and his mind wandered to some of the mysteries that had taken place in Hogwarts during his years there.  
  
First, they had needed to find all the answers to all that stuff to get the sorcerer's stone. There wasn't really much of a mystery to that, though, so that didn't really apply.  
  
Then, they had needed to figure out where the chamber of secrets was, and who the heir of Syltherin was... That was more of a mystery, but it was still so different than the one going on now that he couldn't see any way to go...  
  
Third year was when Sirius had come into the picture, but there hadn't been any really mysteries involved in that.  
  
And the Triwizard tournament that had taken place last year was difficult as well, but again, no mysteries there except, of course, for how he had managed to get into the tournament in the first place... And that mystery solved itself without him needing to do anything...  
  
There was simply nothing for him to compare to that he could use to help them in this situation. It all seemed sort of... hopeless...  
  
"I wonder if the Ministry has gotten any further than we have..." he mumbled to himself. "I hope not, or I'll feel rather stupid..."  
  
Hermione smiled at him. "We'll figure something out." She said reassuringly.  
  
Harry sighed. "I suppose... Eventually... But what can we do if.."  
  
He was cut off by Ron. "Hey! I've got it! House searches! Somebody somewhere has got to have at least one clue in their bedrooms or something!"  
  
Harry blinked. "One, Ron, how do we know who's house to search? Two, what exactly would we be looking for in there?"  
  
Ron shrugged. "Letters, pictures, suspicious sleeping activity, who knows? But it might work..."  
  
Hermione frowned. "And when would we find time to do this? We can't very well do it while people are at school."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Cause we'll still have to go to school too!" Hermione said, like this was an obvious thing.  
  
Harry and Ron looked at each other with slightly pained looks.  
  
Hermione laughed. "I'm kidding! Kidding! We don't HAVE to go. But we probably will. During the day, you can never be sure who's going to be home at different people's houses."  
  
"So we go at night?" Ron asked, opening the door of the house and letting them all in.  
  
Hermione nodded. "That would probably work best."  
  
"But what if they wake up? We should take the invisibility cloak. And that works best if as few as possible people go." Harry pointed out as he sat in a chair. "Meaning we should choose out one of us."  
  
Hermione and Ron agreed with this. "Who should go, though?" Ron asked.  
  
Ron and Hermione both looked at each other, then at Harry, who stared back and sweatdropped. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"  
  
"... It's your cloak, Harry..."  
  
"And your idea, too..."  
  
"Oh, man..."  
  
(-----Divider-----)  
  
Harry muttered under his breath as he sat underneath Joey's bedroom window. He had the invisibility cloak wrapped around him, and he was listening to snores coming out of the open window. When it seemed late enough at night for everybody to be asleep, he stood and peered in.  
  
Coast clear. Silently, he lifted the window sill and slipped inside. Taking a step forward, he tripped over a shoe on the floor, landing with a fwump.  
  
Harry glanced up at the bed to make sure Joey hadn't stirred. The glance wasn't necessary. His snores already told him that he was still asleep. He picked himself up off the floor. 'What a way to start a search.' He thought with annoyance at himself.  
  
He sighed quietly, and began his search by going through the things on the top of the dresser.  
  
It didn't take long before he took off the invisibility cloak so that the search would be easier. With the cloak on, he could very easily knock things over while he looked, and that would not only be loud, but it might make Joey suspicious the next morning when things were misplaced on his dresser.  
  
There were a lot of things on top of the dresser. A photo of Joey and a younger girl who must be his sister Serenity while the two of them were at the beach, a half disassembled watch, a small collection of loose change, and a few buttons.  
  
There was a large stack of unused and dusty Duel Monsters cards which, upon inspection, were obviously Joey's extras—They were rather dumb cards. Behind the stack was a ring of keys.  
  
Half hidden under a paperback book was, strangely, a deck of Pokemon cards. Then there was a clock that didn't work. Unusual as all these things were, though, there wasn't really anything there that could prove or disprove his involvement in the mystery.  
  
Harry carefully opened the first drawer on the dresser, which appeared to be a junk drawer. Slowly, he began to sift through the contents, hoping to find something to clear his new friend of the deed.  
  
A small stuffed animal on a keychain, a small notebook that seemed to serve as a diary, (The last entry was a year ago and consisted of "Nothing much happened today. Today I ate..." and such things), a leaf collection in a ziplock bag, a pocketknife that had not only the usual knife stuff, but also had some lockpicking tools, a couple of really old model airplanes, and a tape recorder. There was also an assortment of handkerchiefs (unused of course), and more loose change.  
  
Harry pulled out the tape recorder to see what was on the tape inside. He turned the volume really low and listened. The tape was blank. As he put the tape recorder back into the drawer, it flipped out of his hands and dropped onto the floor. Loudly.  
  
Harry dove for the invisibility cloak, but it was too late. Joey sat straight up in bed, looking around wildly. "What's going on?" he said in alarm.  
  
Harry froze, his eyes wide, as he tried to think up something to do.  
  
"What are you doing in here?" Joey asked sternly.  
  
"I, uh...." The invisibility cloak was out of the question now. Joey had seen him now, and to see him disappear would be disastrous.  
  
"Uh huh." Joey sounded mad. "Just as I thought.... I told you, Keith, the Pizza is MINE."  
  
Harry blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"The pizza! Give it back, it's mine."  
  
Harry looked up at Joey and smiled shakily as he realized that the teen's eyes were still closed. "All right, Joey, you can have the pizza back. I'm sorry." He said as he pulled the cloak back on.  
  
Joey nodded firmly. "And the puppy?"  
  
"What puppy?"  
  
"You're sitting on him!"  
  
"... Oh, sorry..."  
  
Joey nodded again, seeming to be pleased with that response. He flopped back down onto his pillow again.  
  
Harry let out a sigh. Slowly, he picked up the tape recorder and turned to put it back in the drawer. Just as he was about to do so, he got an idea.  
  
He slipped over to Joey's bedside and poked him. "Hey, Joey?"  
  
"what?" Joey's voice was muffled due to the fact that his face was now buried in the pillow.  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure, Yug' whatever." Joey said, rolling over.  
  
Harry blinked at the name, wondering how Joey was getting his voice mixed up with the small teen's. Then he turned on the tape recorder and began his questions.  
  
"Do you know anything about a place called Hogwarts?" Harry asked, figuring that this was a safe enough question.  
  
"Hogwarts?" Joey snerked slightly. "Like a Hog... wit warts..."  
  
Harry smiled slightly. "It's a school."  
  
"Oh... "he sighed, stretching. "Buuuuut, I've neva heard of it... why?"  
  
"Ah... no reason... Can you do magic, Joey?"  
  
Joey laughed. "Gotta talk to Yug' about that sort of stuff. Or Malik." He snickered again. "Didja know? He's got our first period teacher mind controlled just enough so's that she ignores us and we can duel and not do homework."  
  
Harry blinked, one of his questions answered. "But you can't do any, right?"  
  
"Naw, course not. Duh. Only Millennium Item holders can ..." his voice faded out as he rolled over, then it came back with a start and he laughed again. "Don't see me with one of those!"  
  
Harry nodded, even though Joey couldn't see it. "All right then." He said quietly to himself. "I think that clears you." He switched off the tape recorder.  
  
He stuffed it in his pocket to show to Hermione and Ron later, then he turned to leave.  
  
"Clears me a' what, Harry?" Joey asked, his eyes fluttering open. Harry froze as Joey looked around the room. "Harry?"  
  
After a while, he shook his head and lay back down, muttering to himself about weird dreams.  
  
Harry waited for a while, then snuck back out the window, feeling very grateful for the invisibility cloak.  
  
Another suspect was cleared.  
  
(----Divider----)  
  
Well, that's another chapter completed. ' hope that's long enough...  
  
Malik: Of course it's not long enough! I already KNEW it wasn't Joey! These things will never be long enough until you tell me who did the stupid thing! Cause once that happens, then we get the cool fight scene!  
  
Daricio: ' ah, maybe. I'm not very good at writing fight scenes. I have a scene written out in one of my notebooks where He-who-made-Hogwarts- disappear basically beats up on Harry for a little while, and I sort of have some of the final battle written out, but so far it's looking rather... um.... not very productive...  
  
Malik: Great... And you still haven't cleared ME yet!  
  
Daricio: That's nice, Malik.  
  
Malik: I need to know if I did it or not, so I know whether or not to laugh insanely in the author notes or not!  
  
Daricio: ' uh huh... Anyways, I'm going to end this chapter now... But first, list of remaining suspects: Kaiba/Mokuba, Yugi/Yami, Malik, and... wow, I think that's it... ' Only three left guys! Who do you think it is now?  
  
Oh, and B/k? yes, I know that you know who it is. That's cause I TOLD you. (grin)'  
  
Review please! 


	10. Clearing Yugi

Daricio: Ok, this ish my new chapter... I'm actually typing this while I'm on vacation. (I'm on my laptop) As I start the chapter, I am in Montana, in our camp site, 4th day of the trip.

Malik: That's nice, nobody cares.

Daricio: Roo cares.

Malik: He does? Since when?

Daricio: (points to where Roo is brooding in the corner) On this trip, I learned that he's afraid of heights.

Roo: (sticks tongue out at Daricio)

Daricio:

Malik: Uh huh...

Daricio: Anyways, no other notes, except that this chapter is probably going to end up getting posted right after the last one I did, mostly because there's no internet connection out here. So, let's start the chapter!

(----Divider----)

Another long boring school day later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron made sure to look for Yugi as they exited the building so that they could talk to him before he went off anywhere else.

As Harry caught up to him, he called out, "Hey, Yugi! Wait up!"

Yugi turned, grinning when he saw who it was. "Hi Harry! Hi Ron and Hermione!"

Hermione and Ron said their hellos. Hermione opened her mouth to ask Yugi over.

"Hey, can I come over to your guys' house today? Since you're still pretty new around here, maybe I can give you a tour of the town." Yugi asked brightly.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all exchanged glances. Something was wrong here...

"Sure, that'd be cool." Ron finally answered. "You wanna come straight over, or you wanna go ask your Grandpa first?"

"Oh, I asked permission today before school, so that if you said sure that I'd be able to go. Let's drop our stuff off at your house, and then we can go tour!" Yugi suggested.

"Yes, that would work all right." Hermione answered. "Let's go!"

Together, with the rest of their group of friends, the foursome walked to the rented house, chatting amiably all the way.

Throughout the entire day, Yugi was extremely bright and cheerful, very unlike how he had been while they first got here. It was almost night time by the time they started back towards their 'home' again.

They decided to take a small short cut through some of the alleyways to get back home, and as they walked, the last fading light of the sunset sifted through to lightly touch the ground.

Hermione sighed. "This town is so pretty."

Yugi nodded. "Yeah, I've always enjoyed living here, even if some strange things happen around here sometimes..."

Harry looked at him interestedly. "Strange things like what, Yugi?"

Yugi shrugged. "Well, different things, really. We've had duelist tournaments like Battle City that always end up being really dangerous, we've got the normal thieving and things like that around here... Once we even had a drug ring that had to be arrested. Other than that, though, the other strange stuff is pretty harmless."

Ron grinned. "You mean like practical jokes, right?"

"Well, that and some other stuff..."

"Like what?"

DVD185: (doinks by)

DVD: (chases after him) GET BACK HERE, YOU!

Daricio: (chases both of them) GET OUT OF MY STORY!!!

Yugi, Hermione, Ron, and Harry stared after the strange looking people as they disappeared into another side alley.

"... Shall we continue on and pretend that we didn't just see that?"

"Good idea, Yugi."

They continued on to the house with no further comment on the insane whackos.

(----Divider----)

(A/n: The random appearances here, as well as the slight reference to LuckyLadybug66's mystery stories, are for purely odd reasons. Pay no attention to them, they have nothing to do with the story. )

Hermione closed the door to the house and started to put some of the school stuff, which had been dumped in the main entryway when they all first came in, away in a better spot. Yugi grabbed his and turned to the rest of them.

Suddenly, he looked very serious. The puzzle glowed, and Yami came out in a temporary physical form, then Yugi opened his bag.

"I bet you're wondering why I asked to come over in the first place, huh?" Yugi said as he began looking through things.

"Especially as you were just about to ask us the same thing, if I'm correct." Yami added.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry glanced at each other, then nodded slowly at Yami.

Yugi pulled out what he was looking for: a photograph and a piece of paper. Then he handed them to Harry.

It was a picture of the group of Ministry workers.

Harry looked up at Yugi. "What's this?"

"Well, when you were over for that dueling thing two days ago, those robed guys came in and you guys all ran off to hide in the bathroom, right?"

"yeah..." Ron said quietly.

Yugi looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I wanted to figure out why you didn't want them to see you here, and Yami agreed that it was rather strange. Me and him have been sensing some power buildups lately. You know, magic buildups... And because you were acting so weird, we thought it might have been you."

"So we followed those men to try and figure out what you guys were up to, if anything." Yami explained.

Hermione laughed. "That's funny! We've been following a mystery of our own concerning certain things and places disappearing lately by magic, and we had suspected you of doing it! We had wanted to invite you over so we could figure out if you were up to anything!"

There was silence, then everyone laughed for a while, mostly in relief that their newfound friends weren't the people they were looking for.

"So, what did you find out about us from the Ministry?" Harry asked after a while.

"Oh, is that what they're called? Interesting..." Yami said...

"We actually didn't find out much yesterday, except that they could all do magic. It's really strange, actually, because I've always assumed that the only magic around was magic that came from the Millennium Items..." Yugi admitted.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, there's other magic in the world. Lots of it."

Hermione looked at him. "Harry, we're not supposed to tell people-"

"I think we can tell him, Hermione." Ron said. "After all, he'll find out eventually even if we don't tell him."

Yugi grinned impishly.

Hermione sighed. "Fine. Many people in this world can do magic, and there are special schools of magic all around the world. The best of the best, though, is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's the one we go to, and it's in London."

"Or it used to be in London." Harry added, looking down. "It's one of the main places that have disappeared."

Ron nodded. "The Ministry of Magic, those robed guys who are running around, sent everybody home. The huge amount of magic that was necessary to make the school go poof was enough for them to track it, and they tracked it to here in Domino."

"Harry somehow found out where the Ministry was going, and so we went here to see if we could solve the mystery before they could." Hermione said.

"Because the Ministry is a bunch of Dolts." Harry added. Ron gave him a look. "Except Ron's dad."

"Ah..." Yugi said, pondering this information.

"So you're not brothers and sisters, are you?" Yami asked, looking amused.

Hermione grinned sheepishly. "No, we're not. We're just friends from school."

Yami nodded. "I had thought so. Especially when Ron was talking about his brother in Egypt. Speaking of which..."

"Yeah, he works with Ancient Egyptian curses on the tombs and stuff like that." Ron said, grinning. "I got to travel there at one point. It was rather fun. Everybody in my family is involved with magic."

"Mine aren't. My parents can't do magic, but I can."

"My parents were able to do magic before they died."

"Yeah. You get lots of different types of families in the magic world." Ron said. "Some muggle, or non-magic families, have kids that can do magic. Some magic families have kids that can't do magic. Those kinds of people are called squibs."

Yugi's brow furrowed. "I've heard that word before... I think maybe Mokuba said it at one point, but I can't remember where."

Ron laughed. "Oh, yeah, Kaiba's little brother. You ever wonder why Kaiba doesn't like magic type of things? Well, he caught us talking about magic type of things, told us to go talk to him over at KaibaCorp. Turns out, there's magic in his family too."

Yugi blinked. "Really? He and Mokuba go to these magic schools?"

Ron grinned. "Well, Mokuba was going to go to Hogwarts this year, but... you know...... But Kaiba? He's a squib. He's got plenty of magical potion ingredients there, but he can't do a lick of magic himself."

Yami laughed. "Oh, that just figures."

Yugi grinned. "Uh oh, you've just given Yami a new thing to tease him about."

Hermione frowned. "No, you guys. Sorry, but we're taking enough of a risk just telling you two about all this. You can't tell anybody else. You can help us try and solve our mystery, since the power build-up that you've been sensing is probably the same thing we're looking for, but not a word about our magic!"

Yugi nodded solemnly. "I understand."

"As do I." Yami agreed. "And we'll do all we can to aid you in your search."

Yugi nodded, his cheerful smile returning very quickly.

"Hey, Yugi?" Harry asked after a moment, suddenly remembering something. "We were talking to Tea, Tristan, and Joey, and they all said that you've been really quiet lately. And we noticed that ourselves as well. You seem to be back to normal, as far as we can tell, so can you tell us what was up?"

Yami looked interested too. "Yes, I had sensed this from you as well, Yugi."

Yugi shifted uncomfortably. "Well... I... Oh, it was stupid, really..."

"What was it?" Hermione asked, trying to be comforting.

Yugi looked away. "I... A bunch of bullies caught me in the alleys about a week ago. Before I could even think of what I was doing, or think to call to Yami for help... I sort of inadvertently activated the puzzle. All four bullies were out cold, and I was running home before I realized what happened... I hadn't meant to hurt anybody... It's simply taken me this long before I could recover from that enough to be my old cheerful self again..." he gave a weak laugh. "I think it was the dueling that finally snapped me out of it."

Harry gave Yugi a pat on the back. "It's ok, Yugi. It was self defense. I'm glad you're back to your old cheerful self."

"Yeah, you really are a fun person to hang out with." Ron added with a smile.

Yugi grinned. "Thanks."

The five of them chatted about different things, mostly magic and the different things that each kind could do, until late. Finally, Yugi looked at his watch and realized what time it was.

"Oh, sorry guys! We have to go, Grandpa will be wondering where I am."

Harry laughed, then pointed out the window. One of the lower windows of the Game Shop was open, and Yugi's grandpa was leaning out of it, his fingers tapping on the sill in an impatient fashion, watching them all talk with a bemused expression on his face.

When he saw Yugi looking at him, he pointed at his watch, and Yugi grinned sheepishly.

"Ok, so he's not wondering where I am, but still... I have to go."

They all laughed, and Yugi and Yami left, Yami disappearing back into the puzzle, and Yugi waving goodbye then skipping home.

This had been a very productive few days. Only two suspects left, Kaiba and Malik, and they had been able to get to know Yugi better. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were able to get to sleep much more easily than they had for quite a while.

(----Divider----)

Daricio: There's ANOTHER chapter finished... (sweatdrop) I wrote out this whole thing in just one day.... ... and now my laptop is flashing at me that I have low battery power... Meaning we need to get back to our campsite soon so I can recharge it...

Malik: I'm STILL not cleared...

Daricio: But that should make you happy, right? That means that you're still a potential criminal!

Malik: ... I'd be happier if you'd just tell me who it is that did it....

Daricio: Not right now.

Malik: Oh come on! Just tell me what their name begins with!

Daricio: There's only two suspects left, Malik! Can't you wait one more chapter?

Malik: NO.

Daricio: (sweatdrop) I see... Sucks to be you. Chapter ends now. (cheesy grin)

Review everyone!


	11. FRUSTRATIONS For you

Daricio: Ok, there are only two suspects left. The story's almost over!!! If a suspect is cleared this chapter, then we KNOW who did it. (Big grin)

Malik: Yay! Now I FINALLY get to see who did it! Yes yes yes yes yes!

Daricio: I must warn readers, though; this is a very short chapter. Something very important happens in it, but unfortunately, that really important thing doesn't take very much time to happen... And I don't want to just keep the chapter going, because the next thing that happens after that is my big climax scene...

Malik: AKA fight scene?

Daricio: Possibly...

Malik: Oh, just tell me.

Daricio: No! (starts chapter)

(----Divider----)

The next day at school was, once again, completely uneventful. It was boring. Nothing happened. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS??! (nods) Yup, you're right. It means that I'm not going to tell you what happened there at school.

Moving right along, after school, Harry-tachi was walking home with Yugi-tachi, as per usual.

The group was a lot more animated than usual, (excuse the pun) mostly because Harry-tachi felt a lot more comfortable talking with the rest of the members of the group now, because of having talked with Yugi and simply because they knew that all in that group had been cleared.

At Yugi's house, everybody split off to their own places, cheerfully saying their goodbyes.

Yugi hadn't even reached his front door yet when Hedwig suddenly flew out of the sky, landing heavily on Harry's shoulder and almost knocking him over. Yugi came over to look at her in slight awe.

"So this is your owl, Harry?" he asked, stroking her gently. She gave him a strange look and Yugi giggled.

"Hold on a sec there, guys, what does she have there? Is that... Is that another owl she's got?" Hermione noticed, pulling the small owl out of Hedwig's grasp.

Hedwig gave her a hoot of thanks and then stuck out her leg for Harry to remove a letter.

"Thanks, Hedwig. There's food and water up in my room, I left my window open." Harry said quickly. Hedwig flew upward and into the house as the other three gathered around Harry to see who the letter was from.

"It's from Sirius." Harry said. "He still thinks I'm at the Dursley's, so he's just basically checking up on me to see if I'm bored out of my mind or not... Nice of him..." Harry grinned.

Yugi laughed, but then grew serious again. "So what's the other owl for? Does he have a letter, too?"

Hermione checked. "Yeah, he does. Poor guy's out cold, though. Maybe we should go inside so we can try and nurse him back to health a bit?"

Harry nodded. "You want to come in with us, Yugi?"

Yugi shook his head. "Can't, I'm in charge of the shop today. Tell me about it at school tomorrow, ok?"

"All right, we will."

They all went inside, Harry opening up the letter as he did so. As he read the first line aloud, though, he almost dropped it, blinking quickly.

Hermione whirled on him. "What did that say?!" she asked. "Are you sure?"

Harry read it again. "Yes I'm sure. It's a letter addressed to 'Moldyshorts'..."

Ron almost snickered. "Well, here we've got ourselves two clues. One is whoever sent the letter is the one who made Hogwarts disappear, and two, whoever sent it has a sense of humor."

Hermione grinned. "Great! So because Hedwig intercepted this letter, we'll be able to tell who did it!"

Harry nodded. When they reached the top floor, they all sat in chairs and Harry read the letter aloud to all of them.

"Dear Moldyshorts;

I've got you figured out now. I did what you asked me to, as we agreed. Then I gauged the power outtake from the disappearance, and I only received a miniscule amount of the total power that came from it. Where exactly is the rest of it going towards?

We agreed that any magic intakes we got from this would be split equally between us, and you're holding back. Furthermore, I figured out how, and have reversed it.

Thanks so much for being stupid.

Also, I've been reading the news lately. I didn't realize that we were sending entire cities to the Shadow Realm, idiot! That dimwit Kaiba had a part of his company located there in Egypt, and now he's starting to get into the search for me!

Are you aware just how difficult it is to act innocent around him when he's doing stuff like this?

And Malik, too! Apparently, his stupid sister, Isis, was there in the city doing more digs or something like that while we were working last night. Now that he's convinced that the magic had its origins here in Domino for some odd reason, I'm stuck again.

More than that, both Bakura and that new student Harry, along with the brat's two siblings are getting suspicious of me again.

I'm going to be under rather close watch by a lot of people, Voldemort, thanks to you. Especially by those Ministry people you talked about. If you need me, I'll be at the warehouse. Or my house. But mostly I'll be hiding out.

--Your "humble" servant

P.S. I think your bird's half-dead over here. What have you been doing to it, idiot?"

Harry blinked. "He sure isn't very polite, is he?"

"Definitely not. Unfortunately, do you realize just what this letter has told us?" Hermione asked.

Ron shook his head and asked to see the letter.

"We've only got 2 suspects left, guys." Hermione reminded them. "Anybody who's mentioned in that letter couldn't have been the one writing it, right?"

Ron blinked and frowned as he looked it over.

"Hermione's right, Harry. We've got Kaiba and Malik as our remaining suspects, and they're both mentioned here... We have no more suspects... we just cleared them all." Ron almost whispered.

They all sat in silence, taking turns reading the letter again and again, the only sound being that of Hedwig's hooting.

"Well... That sucks..." Harry commented after a while.

"Understatement." Ron muttered.

(----Divider----)

And there you have it, folks, the shortest chapter of Millennium Magic. (grins)

Malik: (staring at the story) ..... No suspects?!? Daricio, you cheated!

Daricio: (innocent look) No I didn't! In that letter, I left little hints and clues as to who it was, don't worry.

Malik: .....Little hints and clues!?! Daricio, you said you were going to tell me who did it THIS chapter!!!

Daricio: ....... So?

Malik: ARGH!!!! (stomps off)

Radley: Temper, temper...

Daricio: (nods) very strange... Oh well. (turns to reviewers) Hope you enjoyed it! Review!


	12. Meeting The Culprit!

Daricio: Ok, new chapter of Millennium Magic.

Malik: (sulking in the corner) yay...

Daricio: (amused sweatdrop) Ok, I know that I confused everybody with the last chapter... I'm sorry!!

Malik: No you're not.

Daricio: ..... ... Ok, you're right, I'm not... (sweatdrop) Except for giving Lisa a headache. That I'm sorry for...

Malik: Just start the chapter already... You ARE going to tell us who the culprit is this time, right?

Daricio: Maaaaybe....

Malik: (death glare)

Daricio: (amused sweatdrop) ok, ok, yes, I'm going to tell who the culprit is.

Malik: Right now? (hopeful look)

Daricio: No, in the chapter, silly.

Malik: Darn.

Daricio: Anyways, read on for the chappie!

(----Divider----)

The three headed off to school feeling more down than they had in a long while. They left late, so they missed Yugi's group. They'd have to let him know in class...

All of their suspects had been cleared and there was nobody left that could have done anything wrong, but nobody wanted to give up yet, which was why they were even going to school that day.

The worst part about the whole thing was that there was no way of knowing if the Ministry of Magic had any more leads than they had, or even if the Ministry knew that they were there...

Surprisingly, when they got to school, Kaiba was waiting for them at the front doors.

"Did you see the news yesterday?" he asked them as they drew near. They shook their heads.

"What news?"

He handed them a newspaper and pointed to the headline.

"Huge Explosion Cuts Off Entire City!!!"

Harry nodded gravely. "Oh, yeah, we heard about that. This is another disappearance by our little 'Friend'..."

Kaiba agreed. "Not just that, though. Look at this, too." He handed them an issue of the Daily Prophet.

Harry's eyes went wide as he read this headline.

"More Magic Disappearing!"

He read the article out loud. "According to reliable sources, not only have magical and non-magical places alike been disappearing, but the magic that we all use is being removed from the very air! Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge warns wizards not to use any sort of magic whatsoever as long as they can help it. "Most who attempt to do even the simplest charms simply cannot complete the spell, but in the more drastic cases, even those who are more experienced end up causing the wrong spell, with horrible effects, simply because of the sudden lack of magic everywhere." This has been confirmed as a world wide crisis. Please use caution!!"

"I thought the Ministry was here!" Ron wondered.

"They can apparate, remember?" Hermione reminded him. "I assume they'd want to be checking things in at the Ministry's headquarters..."

Harry sighed. "Do you have any more leads than you had before, Kaiba?" he asked.

Kaiba shook his head. "No, just the ones that I had previously. How about you?"

"Nope. In fact, we ended up clearing each and every one of our suspects..." Harry said gloomily.

Nothing more was said as the new information sunk in slowly. Finally, the four decided that they'd better head in to class.

They reached the classroom and went inside. The half-mind controlled teacher looked up at them in slight surprise that somebody was interrupting her lesson.

"Ah, Kaiba... Nice of you to actually join us today." She said somewhat sarcastically when she saw who it was.

Kaiba rolled his eyes and headed for his seat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were about to do the same when the teacher's attention turned to them.

"And why are you three late?" she asked.

Ron stammered for a moment before Kaiba spoke up. "They were with me, don't worry."

The teacher looked flustered for a moment, then she sighed and told them to go to their seats.

They all did so, and then Harry began looking around the room at all the different students. Most were sitting in their seats looking with boredom up at the teacher's lesson. But there was still that small little group sitting off in a corner dueling.

Because of what Joey had said the night he had snuck into his house, Harry knew that the only reason the teacher didn't notice this group was because of Malik's Millennium Rod mind controlling the teacher just enough so that she ignored them.

Harry looked back over at the teacher with curiosity. How had she even noticed the four of them coming in, if she was mind controlled to ignore distractions? Was Malik's mind control slipping?

Probably not. Harry was just jumping to conclusions. After all, if the control was slipping, then-

"Harry Potter?" Harry jumped at his name being called, and he looked up at the teacher standing right next to him with a small stack of papers.

"Yes?"

"Homework?" she asked.

Harry blinked, then shook his head. "I didn't do it..."

Her eyes flashed in annoyance and she moved on to Ron's desk. "Homework?"

He also shook his head. This was too much for her. "That is IT!" she yelled, slamming the stack of papers on Ron's desk. Ron very suddenly looked scared.

Everybody else in the room, especially Malik, looked very surprised.

"You come in here late, hoping to get away with it because you happen to be friends with Seto Kaiba, and THEN you don't even get your homework in?! I cannot handle this any more! You three are going to detention!"

Malik's eyes were open wide, and he looked down at his Millennium Rod, knocking against his hand slightly and looking back up at them slightly fearfully. The teacher had apparently broken from its control.

The small group began trying to gather up all their cards as fast as they could.

Hermione held up her completed homework to the teacher timidly. "Ma'am?"

"No excuses! To detention! _NOW!_" the teacher said, pointing at the door. The three abruptly stood and headed for it, heads ducked down.

Yugi stood as well. "They don't know where it is, I'll show them." He said quickly.

"Fine, fine." The teacher said, holding her head in one hand and waving him away with the other.

Quickly, the four exited the classroom and stood in the hallway for a moment.

There was silence between them for a short time, then Yugi began to laugh. Ron and Harry joined in. Hermione just looked peeved.

They laughed for a while as Yugi led them towards the detention room. "Did you see the look on her face?" Yugi giggled. "She was MAD..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't see why Harry and Ron didn't just do the homework in the first place."

"And I don't see why you DID do the homework! We're not in Muggle Studies, you know..." Ron returned easily.

Yugi grinned. "Speaking of 'muggle,' where did that term come from, Hermione? Do you know?"

Hermione shrugged. "It was a combination of _magius_ meaning Magic and _trenuggle_ which is a word that they had thought meant none, but really means trash. And nobody thought to change the word when they figured out what trenuggle really meant." She blinked. "But that's not what we were talking about!" she said in annoyance.

Yugi laughed again.

When they reached the door to the detention room, the three had to say goodbye to Yugi and went inside.

There weren't very many people in the room when they entered, and those who were there were being quiet. The three took seats near the windows.

Harry and Ron, having nothing better to do, took out their homework and began trying to start on it. Hermione gave them a few pointers now and then, but mostly she just read the book that she had checked out of Domino High School's library.

No more than 5 minutes had gone by when the door to the detention room opened again and a small group of people entered, led by Malik.

When he spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he gave them a sheepish grin, then went and sat down with the rest of the dueling group.

Harry smiled. Apparently, they hadn't gotten their cards out of sight before the rabid English teacher of doom had found them...

Harry let out a small sigh and tried to turn his attention back to his work. It wasn't all that difficult of an assignment, but still... He had always hated writing essays anyway, and here he needed to write it about the book that they had been reading in class, and he hadn't been paying attention.

He looked out the window, spacing out slightly. He really didn't want to do the essay, and it's not like it would hurt him if he just skipped doing it... after all, he wasn't going to keep going to Muggle School...

Movement out the window caught his eye, and he focused on it, mildly curious as to what it was. The window had a view of the school's front doors, and a student dressed in a long black cloak had just exited quickly.

Harry watched him with interest, wondering why a student would want to keep his identity secret like that. Suddenly, the front doors opened again, and out walked the Ministry, eyes clearly set on the boy who had just exited.

Just then, 500 miles away, a small chameleon (named Stephanie) scurried across an abandoned road.

Back in Domino, Harry's eyes opened wide as he realized that this meant that the Ministry was about to catch their suspect.

Quickly, he stood from his seat, grabbed Hermione and Ron, and ran from the room, heading for the school's main entry, to the great surprise of the detention teacher and all the students in there.

When Ron and Hermione were once again walking by themselves instead of being dragged by Harry, they followed him.

"What's up, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, what did you see?" Ron huffed.

"Ministry. Chasing somebody. Gotta go see." Harry said shortly, focusing on opening the front door.

Harry glanced around quickly and just managed to spot one of the Ministry members disappearing into an alleyway. "Come on." He said, breaking into a run towards the alley.

Somebody in the detention room had opened a window, and as they ran by, the teacher yelled at them. "Get back in here! You're not supposed to be going outside of this room until..."

But his voice was drowned out by the cheers of the other students in the detention room, and Malik's voice was loudest. "Yeah! Go, Harry! You rock!"

As the three teens entered the alleyways, it was obvious that the Ministry was trying to use magic to subdue their suspect, as there was a faint trail of pink smoke for them to follow.

They wove in and out of the alleys, going this way and that until Harry was sure that they were completely lost.

They came to yet another fork in the road, and Harry started to follow the now yellowish black smoke down one of the two ways when Hermione hissed at him quietly to stop.

He did, earning him a slam on the back from Ron, who did not stop.

"What?" Harry whispered, watching as the smoke grew thinner. "If we don't go after them, we'll lose them!"

"I know." Hermione returned, still whispering. "But they're not who we're after. He is!" she pointed down the other way, and Harry caught a brief glance of the cloaked boy disappearing around another corner.

Ron grinned. "I like him. He managed to lose the Ministry."

"Yeah, let's just hope he doesn't lose us too!" Hermione said, starting after the boy. Ron and Harry followed.

He was fairly easy to follow now. He was no longer running, figuring that he had lost all of his pursuers, and the swishing of his cloak against the ground was easy to hear.

He went around one final corner, and the three followed closely. Too closely.

As they went around it as well, they immediately screeched to a stop. The cloaked boy had stopped, looking up at a large warehouse that looked like it had gone through a fire recently.

Slowly, the three began to inch backwards, hoping that he hadn't heard them, but they were out of luck. He turned around and they froze.

His facial features were lost in the shadows of his hood, as well as any other features about him.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I thought you'd come after me..." he said in a voice that they only partly recognized. An aura of magic power began to form around him, making him look intimidating.

"Very foolish, though. I would advise you three friends to go back to school now."

"W-we're not friends, we're siblings!" Hermione said, trying to keep up their cover.

The boy just laughed. "No you're not, Hermione Granger. Go, before I need to hurt you." He said, reaching out his hand and blasting a wooden box to smithereens as a demonstration.

The three started walking backwards slowly, eyeing the boy's display of power.

Unexpectedly, Ron shot forward towards the boy like a football player, hoping to catch him off guard. It didn't work, and the boy simply sidestepped out of the way. Ron, thinking quickly as he realized what the boy had done, stopped the moment he was beside him, then thrust himself sideways, jabbing him with his elbow as he did so.

Harry and Hermione took advantage of the distraction by pulling out their wands and pointing them at the now fallen cloaked boy who was quickly getting to his feet.

"Why you little..." he muttered to himself.

"Don't move." Harry said sharply as Ron also got his wand out. "We have you surrounded."

Hermione decided to pull a bluff. "The Ministry of Magic knows that we're here, and they'll be here any second now."

The boy began to chuckle, and he stood completely straight. "You know, you are absolutely terrible at lying, little girl." He said menacingly, baring fangs as he grinned. "You have no idea what you are dealing with!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at him for a second, then began attempting to cast spells.

Just as the newspaper had predicted, nothing happened no matter what sort of curse they tried.

The cloaked boy laughed at them. "Those things are no use to you." He said unnecessarily. The aura of power around him flashed and the three of them were thrown backwards into the walls of the alley.

The boy didn't even have to lift a finger.

"Powerful..." Hermione squeaked as she slid to a sitting position.

"Who... who are you?" Ron asked, coughing and trying to stand up again.

The boy laughed, coming closer to Ron. "I have been called many things. But because you have trifled with me, you shall know me as your executioner!"

He placed the palm of his hand against Ron's forehead, sending the pain of the Crutacious curse coursing through his body. Ron screamed in torment.

"Petrificus totalus! Petrificus totalus! Incendeo! Oh, come on please work!!" Hermione cried, waving her wand.

Harry ran forward and tried to pull Ron away from the evil boy's grasp, but the moment he touched the boy, the same pain went through his own body. He cried out and let go as if he had touched a hot stove.

The boy laughed again, and a bright light shone through from underneath his cloak. Ron's cries increased in intensity, and he convulsed in pain

"Leave him alone!" Harry yelled weakly. The boy looked away from Ron to grin maliciously at Harry, his hand never leaving the poor teen's head.

After what seemed like an eternity, the boy stepped back, the glowing dimming down until it could no longer be seen. Ron collapsed against the wall behind him, almost unconscious.

Harry and Hermione rushed to his side to try and help him up, both glaring at the evil boy who was now standing with his arms folded, watching to see what they would do next.

When nothing happened for several seconds, the boy chuckled to himself. "Maybe now you'll all learn to quit sticking your noses in other people's business." He said, turning and walking away.

The three made no move to stop him. Soon, they were alone in the alley, and the only sound was that of Ron's labored breaths.

Hermione looked as though she was about to cry. "He has all the magic in the world now... How are we supposed to beat him now?"

"We have to try." Ron coughed. "We have to. Come on, help me up."

Between the two of them, they managed to get Ron on his feet. "all right, let's go."

"Where?" Harry asked him.

"After this guy." Ron returned darkly. The three set off. Every step seemed to bring pain to Ron, but he seemed determined to stop all of this.

After they had walked in near silence for a few minutes, they suddenly heard a small groan. Looking ahead, they saw the silhouette of a person leaning up against the alley wall.

They walked forward, realizing that whoever it was, they were in pain. Maybe the wicked boy had been this way...?

Slowly, the three were able to see more and more details of the person as they came closer... When they came close enough to see what he was wearing, they stopped, eyes wide.

Up ahead was a boy wearing a long cloak with a hood, the exact same as their attacker had been wearing. They stared at him for a moment, then Ron cleared his throat to catch his attention.

The boy looked up in slight confusion. When he recognized the three, he quickly removed his hood and jogged over to them.

All three of them stared at him with shocked recognition. "Bakura?!"

Sure enough, that's exactly who the boy was! When he got over to them, he looked worriedly at Ron.

"Are you ok, Ron? I'm really sorry..." Bakura looked down.

Ron growled. "Ok, Bakura, you've got some serious explaining to do." He said, not answering the boy's question. "Why did you attack us?"

Harry nodded angrily. "You were the first person we trusted here, how could you have been doing all of this?!"

Bakura kept his eyes on the ground. "I... I didn't." he said slowly. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen..."

"Well, if you didn't, then who did, Bakura?" Ron shot at him accusingly. "Your twin brother who happens to be wearing the same clothes as you today?"

"Ron! Let him talk! Look at him, he's been bean up a little bit already, this obviously isn't the same person who hurt you." Hermione said softly.

Bakura shook his head. "No, I deserve him yelling at me, Hermione. I should have told you about him and about what I suspected that he was doing..."

"But who is he?" Harry asked.

"He's... Well, it's a little hard to explain. You know about how Yugi has a darker half, right?" Bakura said hesitantly.

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"And you expect us to believe that you have a spirit like that too?" Ron asked rolling his eyes.

Bakura paused, then nodded. "Well, yes actually. Yugi's is an ancient Pharaoh, and mine is a Tomb Robber from the same period. Not generally a nice person."

"Yeah, right. Yugi's spirit came from his Millennium Item. Where'd yours come from? You dream him up?" Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione shot a glare at him. "Ron, hush, he's trying to help us."

"Yeah, well I don't trust him as far as I can throw him." Ron returned harshly. Bakura ducked down, still looking at the ground.

Harry stepped forward and placed a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Where did he come from, if you don't have a Millennium Item?" he asked gently..

Bakura looked up and closed his eyes, bringing his hands up to his chest. Slowly, the Millennium Ring materialized around his neck with a faint glowing. "I do have a Millennium Item... It just likes to hide...."

Ron gaped at it, then looked up into Bakura's eyes. "I'm sorry, Bakura..." he said after a moment.

Bakura shook his head again. "Like I said, I deserved it."

"No you didn't, Bakura.... It's not like you really could have had a chance to tell us something like this if you had an evil spirit listening in on all your conversations..." Hermione said comfortingly.

Ron blinked. "Wait, listening in... Why is he letting you talk to us now?"

Bakura looked up at him, his eyes looking slightly blank. "Actually, we're no longer connected to each other... While he was beating on you guys, he wanted to hurt me too, so he let me watch but he didn't let me do anything about it. After that, he decided that he could hurt me better if I was no longer a part of him, so he used some of that power he absorbed to create himself a new body, separate from mine, but one that still looked like mine, including clothes."

Hermione nodded. "I see... And that's why you're wearing the same thing he had been... But what about the Millennium Ring? Surely he wouldn't have let you have that...?"

Bakura shook his head. "He didn't. This one's a copy. It's got the original magic that the Millennium Ring had, but it doesn't have any of the extra power that he has..."

Ron grinned suddenly. "It still has some magic in it?" he asked. He looked over at Harry. "Hey, do you think that the other Millennium Items also still have their power?"

Harry shrugged, but Bakura answered the question. "Millennium Items all have ancient spells on them to make sure that the amount of magic in them stayed constant. No extra, no less. Voldemort broke the spell on Yami Bakura's Ring somehow... It drained them both a lot until they started their disappearings..."

Ron's grin stayed. "So even if he's got all of our magic, we still have at least some magic. Somebody should run back to the school and get Yugi and Malik. Then, we'll be able to form some sort of counter attack."

Hermione agreed. "I'll go, I'll be able to remember how to get back here. You three stay here for now, I'll be back soon!"

Bakura, Harry, and Ron nodded. Hermione took off running as fast as she could down the complex workings of the alleyways.

After she left, Bakura activated one of the Ring's abilities in order to make them invisible to others. That way, they wouldn't get snuck up on.

15 minutes later, Hermione returned, out of breath, with both Yugi and Malik behind her, and Bakura dropped the disguise so that they would know that they were there.

"I explained to them on the way, they know about it." She said hurriedly. Bakura nodded and stood.

"Ok, then. Let's go." He said. "Let's get that magic back where it belongs."

The rest agreed, and they set off.

(----Divider----)

Daricio: There, you know who it is, now don't hurt me!

Malik: Next chapter is the last chapter, huh?

Daricio: (nods sorrowfully)

Malik: Big battle scene?

Daricio: (nods)

Malik: Me kicking butt?

Daricio: ...... Well, no...

Malik: WHAT?! I'm there, am I not?

Daricio: Well, yes, you are... And you help... but you're not the main bum kicker.

Malik: -.-

Radley: (running away from many people with flame throwers) Aaaaahhhh!!!! I didn't do it, I swear! Daricio wrote it, not me! Aaaahh!!!!

Daricio: (amused sweatdrop) I guess I better save my muse... (puts him in a protective dome)

Radley: THANK YOU. -.-UU

Daricio: You're welcome. Anyways, review! Don't hurt Radley, please! ...... Don't hurt me either!

Kura: (sweatdrop)

Daricio: Oh, and by the way... Ignore the chameleon. (nods wisely) HAPPY! XP


	13. Fighting the Culprit!

Daricio: Blahdity blah. (Sweatdrop) My head hurts.

Malik: Write anyway.

Daricio: ... Ok, fine...

(----Divider----)

Harry and the rest of the group walked stealthily under Bakura's invisibility shield that he cast upon them with the Ring. Unfortunately, Voldemort and Yami Bakura were ready for that. They had both cast spells so that they could see the group, and they turned invisible themselves.

And so it was that our brave young heroes were all brutally slaughtered and Darkness ruled the world. And Daricio's space bar key blew up and then suddenly began to work again.

The End.

(----Divider----)

Daricio: ZZZzZZzzzZZZzzzzz

Malik: -.- (twitch) Daricio.....

Daricio: (mumble mumble) but the space bar key broke, mom...

Malik: (_Twitch_) Write the story correctly this time, Daricio.... And WAKE UP!! (Boot)

Daricio: (grumble grumble) Yeah, yeah, ok, I get it... (Sweatdrop) I just wish that I didn't have so much homework that I didn't feel like doing... Not failing Math, English, History, PE, and my computer class would be nice too... (Sweatdrop)

Malik: ... And while we're wishing, I wish I weren't a muse.

Daricio: I like to be amused.

Malik: -.- (juggles bright pink pencil sharpeners)

Daricio: (much grin) Ok, I'll write now.

Malik: (rolls eyes) Yay, finally. And no pulling stupid stunts like you did up there.

Daricio: But I _want_ my spacebar key to work!

Malik: Too bad, I don't know how to fix computers. XP so you'll just have to push it harder.

Daricio: Poo. (turns to readers) This first part here is a bit that I was going to have at the end of my last chapter, but I got tired of writing... (sweatdrop) Go figure. But anyways, after that is where you're expecting to be in the chapter. Yeah. (sweatdrop) go read.

(----Divider----)

Hermione ran as hard as she could, trying to get back to the school as fast as possible. As she ran, her mind was racing as well, attempting to figure out what to tell them that would convince them to come.

Yugi, she was fairly certain, would quickly come to her aid just by her asking him to. She could explain to him on the way back. Malik would be harder, as she didn't know him as well.

The bell for the end of the class period rang just as she was running up, out of breath. Hermione felt relieved; now she wouldn't have to say anything to the teachers.

She ran first towards the door of the detention room since it was closer, trying to catch Malik before he ran off to his next class. When she saw his white-blonde hair through the crowd of students, she called out to him.

"Malik, wait!"

He turned at the sound of his name, looking confused. The confusion turned to amusement when he saw who was calling him.

"Nice ditch of detention earlier, Hermione." He said when she caught up, grinning. "Couldn't have done it better my-"

"I need your help, Malik." Hermione interrupted. "and we have no time. Come on, we have to find Yugi."

Malik blinked at her, then nodded, his face now serious. "Right, his next class is Math, I believe. Come on."

The two hurried down the hallway. "So, any chance of you explaining this to me?" Malik wondered as they went.

"Wait till we find Yugi so I don't have to explain it twice." Hermione gasped, still out of breath from running so much.

They reached the classroom door and Hermione barged inside. "Yugi!" she cried when she spotted him.

His head shot up, his eyes confused. "Hermione? Malik?" He got out of his chair and hurried over to them, leaving his backpack on the ground.

Malik glanced at his own backpack and tossed it over to where Yugi's was. Then the three of them raced out of the school.

As they ran, Hermione quickly explained the situation as clearly as she could between hard breaths and an aching side.

By the time they reached the alleyway again, it was deserted. Hermione blinked and looked around. "Guys? Bakura? Harry? Ron?" she called, wondering where they had gotten off to.

"Right here, Hermione." Harry's voice seemed to come out of nowhere. A half second later, he, Ron, and Bakura seemed to materialize out of nowhere beside her.

"Invisibility feature on the Millennium Ring." Bakura explained. "We all set to go? Anybody have any questions?"

"Do we have a plan?" Malik wanted to know. "Or are we just going to run in there and generally get our butts kicked?"

Ron stopped. "Uh, the second one, I think." He said, grinning sheepishly.

"Great." Came the sarcastic reply.

"Have you guys ever done any real battle with your Millennium Items before?" Hermione asked the three holders.

"Well, no, not really." Yugi admitted. "It's helped with card games and stuff, but not really for shooting blasts of energy or anything like that... not as far as I know anyway..."

"I can summon Duel Monsters, and do this invisibility thing to hide you guys, but I think that's all I'll be able to do, besides lead you guys there..." Bakura said.

"The Millennium Rod may control minds, but not if the mind is too strong. I doubt I could control the Spirit of the Ring, much less a super-powered Spirit of the Ring and the Dark Lord that was supposedly able to almost take over the world at one point." Malik said.

Harry frowned. "So, while they have the entire world's magic supply, we get a few Duel Monsters to fight for us?"

"Not necessarily." Hermione mused. She pulled out her wand and looked it over. "If we can somehow channel the magic of the Millennium Items into our wands, then we'd be able to use our spells. They think they have all the magic, they won't know what hit them..."

Malik blinked. "That might work... Use them like giant batteries. Yugi and I could hide somewhere, maybe underneath one of Bakura's invisibility spells, and we could focus our energies to whoever needed it."

Yugi nodded, his face brightening. "Sounds like a plan to me."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron said, sounding braver than he felt.

"Let's kick Tomb Robber butt!" Malik cried, starting off down one of the alleys. He stopped halfway down, turning back with a sheepish grin. "Ah, Bakura, why don't YOU lead the way, since I have no idea where we're going."

The rest laughed and Bakura took the lead, throwing up an invisibility spell around them as they started out. The Ring's steady glow finally led them to an open area in the alleyways.

At first glance, the place seemed to be abandoned, but if one looked closely, they would see a darkly clad figure waiting in the shadows of the corner across from where the group entered.

Slowly, they shifted sideways, trying to see who was over there.

Suddenly, the figure stirred, looking up into the alleyway. "No use trying to hide from me, Bakura." The voice hissed. "I can hear you walking. Do you have something to say to me, or are you just sneaking around for no reason?"

Harry froze. "That's Voldemort, not Yami Bakura!!" he hissed to the rest of them. Bakura's eyes widened and quickly, the Millennium Ring glowed.

A few feet ahead of them, as if appearing out from under an invisibility cloak, Yami Bakura suddenly appeared, his own Ring glowing as well. "Do I ever just sneak around for no reason, you imbecile?! I was looking for you."

Voldemort stepped out of the shadows. "Oh, really? For what reason?"

"Oh, nothing much, really. Just a simple matter of Power Control." Yami Bakura said pointedly. "And you not giving me my fair share."

Voldemort looked bored. "I told you already, tomb robber, the Millennium Ring can only hold so much power within it, and-"

Yami Bakura interrupted him with a laugh. "Foolish mortal..." he said, his voice low. "The holding spell on the Millennium Ring has been broken and you know it. This Item could hold all the power in the entire world within it. And you know it."

"All the power?" Voldemort sounded amused. "My, my, it does sound as though you are planning on double crossing me."

"And ditto to you, apparently." Yami Bakura said dryly.

Voldemort sighed. "Such a pity that I shall now have to kill you and that pathetic host of yours."

Yami Bakura laughed. "Too bad that I feel no such qualms about killing you."

The two began to circle.

Bakura was starting to sweat. "I don't think I can hold up the illusion and attack at the same time!" he whispered.

"Illusion?" Ron whispered back, confused. "You mean...?"

"Yami Bakura better show up soon, or we're in quite a bit of trouble." Bakura answered.

Malik rolled his eyes, taking out his Millennium Rod. "You've been around your yami too long." He whispered. The Rod activated and Bakura's eyes went blank.

Hermione stared. "What are you doing?!" she hissed.

Malik smirked. "No time, explain later." He muttered. "'Yami Bakura' is about to pull a Yami Malik..."

The illusion of Yami Bakura suddenly straightened up, smirked, and turned around. "Then again, perhaps maybe you're just not worth my time."

Voldemort looked furious. "You dare turn your back on me?!" he spat angrily.

"Yes." Yami Bakura began to walk away. "I'll deal with you later, fool."

Voldemort turned red in the face, raising his wand. "Oh, that is it. _Avada Kedavra!_"

Yami Bakura sidestepped the curse, smirking at Voldemort over his shoulder. The Millennium Ring around his neck began to glow. "That your best shot? Pity. Let me show you mine."

Voldemort sneered at him, readying himself for the attack. A huge blast of yellow-white light came exploding towards him.

"_Finite Incantum!"_ Voldemort cried, attempting negate the attack coming at him. The attack, and Yami Bakura, vanished.

Voldemort had a total of two seconds tops to blink and stare at the spot where the teenage spirit had been standing before he was suddenly pinned to the alley wall by what looked like greenish-purple electricity.

Hermione jumped forward. "_Expelliarmus!_" She yelled, sending Voldemort's wand flying away. Bakura's eyes cleared back to normal and he looked around in slight confusion.

Malik kept his hold on Voldemort's restraints with the Millennium Rod. "Sorry, Bakura, I was thinking fast."

Bakura nodded, dropping the invisibility and walking towards the Dark Lord.

Voldemort glared at them all. "I'm not through with you, brats." He hissed. "Your power can't hold me here forever."

"No, but mine can, you traitor." Yami Bakura's voice rang darkly from the rooftop of a nearby house. The purple lightning around Voldemort vanished, replaced by a solid, steady gold force field.

Yami Bakura jumped down from the roof nimbly and made his way over to his ex-partner in crime. "You know, I honestly don't know why I continue to ally myself with fools like you."

Voldemort glared. "So you _were_ the one doing this."

Yami Bakura shrugged. "No, not at all. In fact, the only reason you were able to do any spells whatsoever is because I was feeding you magic." He glanced at Harry, Hermione, Ron, Bakura, Malik, and Yugi. "It appears that I've either underestimated my hikari and his friends, or I overestimated your own abilities. Probably the latter."

(A/n: Ladder, what ladder? (begins searching for a ladder) I don't see a ladder...)

Voldemort growled (at Daricio's stupid pun). He was about to say something back, when Yugi very suddenly shouted "NOW!"

Yami Bakura turned towards the sound in confusion. "Wha..?"

"_PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!_" Three voices yelled at the same time.

The three spells raced towards the ancient thief from different locations of the alleyway, making it impossible for him to dodge.

Yami Bakura smirked. The three spells ricocheted off a hidden force shield around him, bouncing wildly. One hit a random cat, which fell to the ground, one bounced off a rooftop and hit Voldemort, and the third went straight back and hit the one who cast it.

"Hermione!" Ron and Harry ran over quickly to make sure she was ok and to undo the spell.

Yami Bakura stretched his hand out, creating a magical wall between them and her. "You children are definitely annoying, I'll give you that much. But do you seriously think that you can defeat me that easily?"

Harry glared at him, readying his wand and racking his brain for a good spell.

Yami Bakura waved his hand lazily and Harry and Ron's wands flew out of their hands, landing neatly beside Hermione. "You're completely powerless. None of the Millennium Items were made for any sort of combat, and now you haven't even got your stupid stick things. I really must thank you for getting rid of my insolent partner, but now it's time for all of you to die."

A maniacal grin spread over his face as the Millennium Ring began to shine brighter and brighter.

"Yugi! Shield!" Malik yelled desperately. Yugi did so as quickly as possible.

Bakura pulled out his deck and held up a card, his own Millennium Ring glowing brightly. "Necromancer, defend!"

"Spear Dragon, same!" Malik joined him.

Yami Bakura laughed insanely, then was hidden from view behind a blaze of light hauntingly similar to that of the illusion from before, only this time it was headed straight at them.

The blast hit Yugi's shield first, struggling to overcome the powerful ancient magic. Yugi grit his teeth in concentration of holding the power back, but it didn't take long for the sheer amount of magic contained in the blast to overpower him.

The magic shield faded as Yugi lost consciousness.

"Yugi!" Ron glanced back at him, but everybody's attention was on the blast that was now headed for Malik's monster. The same battle of will went on with the intense noise of the powerwave pounding in everybody's ears.

Malik cried out as he forced every bit of magic he could into defending his monster. He dropped to his knees, his eyes tightly shut, his hands clenched around the Millennium Rod.

"You can do it, Malik!" Ron said encouragingly, keeping fear-filled eyes locked on the Spear Dragon.

"I...... I... Sorry...." Malik let out through clenched teeth. "...Can't... hold... any... longer...."

The Spear Dragon shattered into a million pieces and Malik blacked out.

"Kuso," Bakura hissed, bracing himself as the blast came for his monster next. "NECROMANCER, DEFEND!" he yelled.

Monster and magic met with a crash, neither willing to give up.

It was the same deal over again, millennium magic defending, wave of power trying to get through, and the magic of the teens seemed to be losing. Harry and Ron each took ahold of Bakura's hands, lending him some of their own strength as well.

Tiny cracks began to appear in Bakura's monster, small bits of light shining through.

Bakura let out a growl that turned into a scream of anguish as he continued to pour magic into the survival of his monster. "YAMI BAKURA, YOU WILL NOT GET THROUGH!!!" He yelled.

Harry looked worriedly at the monster, biting his lip. "We hope..." he whispered to himself.

(----Divider----)

Daricio: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Now I can have another chapter to this!!! NYAHAHAHAHA!!! Although, I must warn you, the next chapter is going to be rather anti-climatic and dumb. (sweatdrop) Oh, and by the way, this battle scene has got to be the cheesiest thing I have ever written. XP (sweatdrop)

Malik: (staring) You knocked me out.

Daricio: .... Yes, yes I did.

Malik: (still staring) .... You meanie.

Daricio: (sweatdrop) ANYWAYS... Next chapter coming soon... Let's hope that my evil spacebar will start working correctly by then... thanks to , because that's where I gotsted spell ideas for the story... And cookies to those who can spot the two cameo appearances in here...

Malik: ....... meanie...

Daricio: (rolls eyes) Anywhos, review please!!! (big cheesy grin)


	14. VICTORY IS OURS!

Daricio: Hello all! (sneezes) ... (sweatdrop) I've recently had the very bad luck of catching just about every illness that comes my way for the past month or so... BUT I WRITE ANYWAY! AND THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THIS STORY! MUAHAHAHAHA- (cries) I don't want the story to end yet! WWWAAAAAHHHHH!

Malik: -.- Write anyway! u.u and no killing us all this time!

Daricio: Aw, but that was fun... Fine... No real notes for this chapter, unless I think of any in the next two seconds... (pause) ... Nope. On to the story!

Oh, wait... Just need to say that the cameos that were in the last chapter were the two duel monsters that Bakura and Malik are using. Both of those cards, (or at least I think it's those cards) are cards that my two friends have in their decks.

To Psycho Dragon Lover: I quote from 8-bit theater, (high pitch happy voice) "COOKIESCOOKIESILOVECOOKIES, WOOHOO, COOKIES!"

(Ahem) Anyways...

And end of story WAAAAHHH!

Malik: (fwap) So write an epilogue or something! Sheesh...

Daricio: (sweatdrop) and one last thing... (waves to B/k and Lisa) (much grin)

(Poinky-dead-Divider)

* * *

Monster and magic met with a crash, neither willing to give up.

It was the same deal over again, millennium magic defending, wave of power trying to get through, and the magic of the teens seemed to be losing. Harry and Ron each took ahold of Bakura's hands, lending him some of their own strength as well.

Tiny cracks began to appear in Bakura's monster, small bits of light shining through.

Bakura let out a growl that turned into a scream of anguish as he continued to pour magic into the survival of his monster. "YAMI BAKURA, YOU WILL NOT GET THROUGH!" He yelled.

Laughter was heard from beyond the blast of magic, and it suddenly intensified, sending even more cracks through Bakura's Necromancer.

Multiple voices shouted from the borders of the area something that was unintelligible due to the sound of Yami Bakura's wave of energy, and the voices' owners stepped out from the shadows, all pointing wands at the ancient tomb robber.

Harry spotted something glowing behind him, but didn't turn around to see what it was; his attention was locked on Hermione, who had suddenly gotten up and was running over to the others with their wands.

Bakura was still straining under the effort of keeping his monster in existence, but the wave of energy cut off suddenly, and indignant yells were audible.

When the spots of light in everyone's vision, created by the energy blast, faded away enough for them to see, Harry saw that Yami Bakura was standing where he had been before, an old tattered wizard's hat was on his head reaching down all the way to the tip of his nose, effectively blocking his vision.

It was a very _familiar_ old tattered wizard's hat...

Yami Bakura busied himself with cursing at the hat, and at the brightly colored bird that had dropped it on him in the first place, in a variety of different languages. Harry couldn't help but smile a little when the hat suddenly yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"

This issued another bout of curses from the enraged tomb robber, and he began blasting magic around randomly, still trying to figure out what was on his head and how to get it off.

While he was thus distracted, the forms along the borders rushed to Voldemort, who was just getting up and brushing himself off, looking very PO'd.

Yami Bakura finally managed to blast the hat off his head, sending it flying into a corner where it lay smoking, and found himself face to face with 10 wands aimed at him, the Death Eaters wielding them looking murderous.

"What took you fools so long?" Voldemort hissed.

"Sorry, master. Had some other... business to attend to." The lead Death Eater said with a sadistic grin, gesturing with a nod of his head toward a pile of unconscious Ministry of Magic members near the entrance to the area. "Now we just need to take care of this idiot for you as well."

Yami Bakura smirked, then began to laugh. The glares of the Death Eaters grew fiercer. "What are you laughing at?" the lead one barked at him.

Yami Bakura glowed white for an instant, and all of the Death Eaters were flung backwards into the walls. "I am simply amused at the level of your incompetence." He growled dangerously, beginning to walk towards his fallen annoyances. (They weren't smart enough to be considered enemies.)

Harry winced slightly, almost feeling sorry for the Death Eaters for a split second, then he, Hermione, and Ron snuck around behind the distracted Tomb Robber, Bakura now focusing the power left in the Millennium Ring on their wands.

As they got in range of the spirit, who was now inflicting his own version of the crutacious curse on the Death Eaters, Harry noticed that Voldemort had gotten the same idea and was coming towards the spirit from the other side. When Voldemort saw Harry and the others, he glared for a moment, then raised three fingers.

He let one finger drop as he focused on Yami Bakura and raised his wand. Then he let a second finger drop. Harry, Hermione, and Ron got the idea and, although they really didn't want to work with the evil sorcerer, they each whispered their own curses along with him when he brought down his last finger.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Stupefy!"

"Rictusempra!"

(A/n: DVD: "Squeegeeblah!"

Daricio: Go away, DVD.)

All four spells raced forward, the first glowing green (making Harry wince), the second a light brown, the third a pale yellow, and the last silver. The spells were still a few feet from the Tomb Robber when he suddenly noticed them coming.

Having been just using his magic as a torture device, he wasn't prepared for the sudden barrage of magic enough to construct a shield. Instead, he sent out four quick blasts of energy at each of the oncoming spells, hitting three of them, but missing the last.

The silver force hit him full on, and he slid backwards about a foot, his head down and his hand clenching his chest where he'd been hit.

There was silence for a moment, the kind of silence where everybody is holding their breath, waiting to see what would happen.

Yami Bakura chuckled evilly. He stood up straight and threw his head back, laughing. He laughed and laughed and laughed. The Death Eaters looked on nervously, glad for the interruption of their torture, but seeming to know that the Tomb Robber was famous for spreading mass destruction and pain after such laughs.

His face began to turn red, and he continued to laugh, gasping for air as he did so. Hermione looked at him suspiciously, beginning to understand that this wasn't any ordinary evil laugh...

The spirit continued to laugh for about a minute, eventually dropping to his knees. When he did this, it was plain to see that, although he was laughing, his red face was full of pure seething _anger_...

Ron grinned. Hermione realized what had happened and ran forward, casting one more spell. "Stupefy!"

The Tomb Robber, laughing so hard from the evil Rictusempra spell of doom, could do nothing to stop the spell, and he fell to the ground unconscious, still giggling slightly.

Bakura ran to his ex-yami and grabbed the Millennium Ring, closing his eyes and beginning to concentrate on returning the magic within it to the air around them.

Hermione hurried to Yami and Malik. "Ennervate" she murmered, waking Malik up. Yami was already up, rubbing his head and watching Fawkes fly around.

Malik groaned. "Did anybody get the license place number on that truck?" he joked, sitting up.

Yami stood shakily. "The Millennium Puzzle's power's back up to maximum. Thanks, Bakura."

Bakura nodded, still focusing on the Ring.

"Now to take care of. . . Hey, where'd they all go?" Yami wondered, looking slightly baffled at the absence of Voldemort and his lackeys.

"Prob'ly ran off." Harry said, helping Malik to his feet. "It'd be just like him too. Hide until his forces are built up enough again. He knows that, especially now that we've got Yami Bakura's Ring on our side, we're more powerful than him. So I'm betting he doesn't want his butt kicked."

"Gunna get his butt kicked anyway unless he gets a new wand." Bakura said, looking up and giving Harry a crooked smile. "It seems that right before Hermione knocked him out, Yami Bakura put a spell on his wand. It repels all magic now. The only spell that will ever affect it is the spell that he just put on it."

Ron laughed in relief. "Well, that's good anyway. There's no way anybody'll ever sell _him_ a wand..."

"By the way, Ron... of all the curses you could have tried, _why_ did you use the _tickling_ curse?" Harry asked, sounding amused.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ron retorted with a grin.

Yami smiled. "Do you need any help over there, Bakura?"

"No, I've almost finished. Just need to finish bringing back some of the places that were sent to the Shadow Realm..." Bakura replied, his eyes closed again. "Malik, the city that Isis and Rishid were in is safe."

Malik smiled and nodded. "That's a relief. No duel monster damage?"

Bakura shook his head. "Not that I can tell from here." He lapsed into silence as he continued to concentrate.

A few minutes later, Bakura sighed, opened his eyes, and took the Millennium Ring from around Yami Bakura's neck. Since Yami Bakura was no longer a spirit attached to the Ring, he could still exist without it being with him.

"I'll help you with this one," Yami said, knowing that now Bakura had to replace the restraints on the Ring's maximum power. The Millennium Puzzle glowed, along with both versions of the Ring.

Slowly, the two rings melded together, becoming one item again. Yami nodded in satisfaction, then turned to the still unconscious tomb robber.

"Only one more thing to take care of, then." He murmured. He stretched out his hand. "Mind Crush!"

Yami Bakura's form wavered, then disappeared with a shattering sound.

Malik gave a crooked grin. "You know, somehow I doubt that this is the last time we're going to see him..."

Yami shook his head. "Probably not... but one can hope, right?"

Malik laughed.

Ron cleared his throat. "Sooo... What all happened back there? I mean, it all went so fast, I didn't catch it all... How did Fawkes get here? How'd You-Know-Who and Hermione get free from the petrificus totalus spell?"

Fawkes chose that moment to land on Yami's head, almost tipping over the former Pharaoh with the sudden extra weight. "That was my doing. I was trying to summon another duel monster using my own energy, since Yugi's was depleted. There wasn't enough power left in the Puzzle to create a proper shadow entrance, but this little guy came through anyway."

He looked up at the bird. "I assume, by the use of a name, that you know this Phoenix?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded. "Fawkes belongs to Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster at our school."

Harry nodded again. "He has a thing for Loyalty, and he likes to help out people who are loyal to their cause, or to Dumbledore."

Fawkes gave a call of acknowledgement. Bakura smiled. "He's beautiful."

"Yes.. The Phoenix was one of the gods in ancient Egypt." Yami said, lifting Fawkes off of his head so that he could get a better look. "This is the first time I've seen one, though."

"So, what about Hermione?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Hermione grinned mischievously. "I never saw a Phoenix before I came to Hogwarts either." She said.

Ron punched her arm lightly. "You know what I meant, you bugger."

She laughed. "Yes, yes, I know. It was those Death Eaters, actually. When they came in, they cast Finite Incantum, which is a spell that cancels out all spells that are in effect." She said, explaining the spell to the Millennium Magic users.

"They were trying to get rid of Yami Bakura's huge energy blast." She continued. "The blast was apparently more powerful than the spell, so the spells all rebounded, like the petrificus totalus spells that we cast did."

"And so the body-bind spell was negated, and you were able to get us our wands back." Ron finished for her.

"Exactly." Hermione said.

"Uh-huh..." Ron's voice lowered to a mutter, "I hate being a plot device."

"What was that, Ron?" Malik asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Ron's ears turned red. Luckily for him, an owl suddenly flew into the area, circled once, then landed on Harry's suddenly outstretched arm.

"Hedwig!" Harry smiled. "Who's the letter from?"

The owl gave Harry a look that plainly said, "You expect ME to tell you?" and Malik laughed. Harry took the rather bulky envelope off of Hedwig's leg while Hermione explained to Malik and Bakura about wizard post.

Carefully, he opened the envelope. Inside was a letter and a doorknob. Harry blinked at the doorknob and began to read the letter.

"Dear Harry Potter,

I do hope that this owl finds you well. When the Hogwarts grounds were sent to the place of shadows, I suspected that you might try to solve the mystery yourself, and it seems that once again, along with your friends, you have.

I expect, though, that you will be in some trouble with the Ministry of Magic for use of underage magic, as well as entering a potentially dangerous area. Enclosed is a doorknob. It is a portkey to Hogwarts, so that you and your friends don't have to wait to get back. Your friends from Domino are quite welcome to come as well, and I will arrange it with their guardians.

To activate the portkey, point your wand at it and say "Portus." Make sure that everybody who is coming is touching the portkey before you activate it.

Hope to see you soon.

Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Harry looked up, "Hey Malik, Bakura, Yami... Want to take a trip to Hogwarts?" He showed them the letter, glancing at the pile of unconscious Ministry of Magic members. Frankly, nobody had gone over to check to see if they were all right...

And frankly, nobody was going to...

But Dumbledore was right. When they woke up, they weren't going to be happy... They'd best get out of there as soon as they could. The portkey was their best bet.

Yami also glanced over at the pile of people, obviously coming to the same conclusions. "Sounds good to me." Bakura nodded as well.

Malik hesitated. "Will they know where to contact Isis and Rishid?"

"Once we're there, you can probably contact them yourself." Hermione reassured him. "They let you borrow owls."

Malik smiled. "Alright then. I'm assuming we're leaving them here?" he gestured to the Ministry.

Three heads vehemently nodded.

"Ok, everybody run and gather up your stuff. Meet at Yugi's house in half an hour." Harry said.

"Right." Everybody took off to grab their things. They were going to Hogwarts!

(Poinky-dead-Divider)

* * *

Daricio: Ok, this chapter's long enough, I think... Epilogue next chapter!

And yes, technically this is the last chapter. I mean, the main bad guy is gone, everybody is safe, Hogwarts is back... All that's left is to hand out Special Service to the School awards. XD

Malik: Yeah, great. And why can't you do that this chapter?

Daricio: Take too long. This chapter was beginning to sound like a run on sentence. (sweatdrop) Besides, you're the one who told me to write an epilogue. : D

Malik: u.u

Daricio: So, anyway... See you for the LAST last chapter of the story, AKA me-trying-to-draw-the-story-out-for-as-long-as-possible. (sweatdrop)


	15. Endes meine Storie

Daricio: Ok, time for the LAST last chapter of Millennium Magic... this is probably going to be one of the more boring chapters of the story... mostly because there's really nothing that's supposed to happen...

This chapter has been rather difficult to write... Mostly because I keep trying to have Yami Bakura pop in to say his sarcastic lines and such like that, since I'm used to Radley being around as my muse, but then I remember, "OH YEAH! Yami Bakura's the BAD GUY in this story! And he's GONE already! (sweatdrop)"

WARNING: Large confusing paragraphs ahead with people talking too much. (sweatdrop again)

So, let's just get going, shall we? (evil grin) That way we won't give Malik enough time to actually say anything at the beginning of this chapter.

Malik: Hey, wait just a--

(Poinky-Dead-Divider)

* * *

"All right, everybody. Grab ahold of this." Harry said, holding out the doorknob with his free hand. The other hand was holding tight to one of the side handles on his trunk; Hedwig's cage was tucked under his arm and Hedwig herself was perched on his shoulder. 

The others, gathered in front of Yugi's house, nodded and shifted their gear so that they also had a free hand. Hermione and Ron each had a small trunk full of stuff, while Yugi, Malik, and Bakura were much less heavy-laden with simply a backpack full of clothes and essentials.

Getting six people to hold onto one doorknob was easier said than done, and in the end a few people had to simply touch it with their fingers rather than hold onto it completely so that nobody would be unintentionally left behind.

Harry fumbled in his robes for a moment, trying to get his wand out past his armload of stuff. Hermione stopped him with a roll of her eyes, politely asked Bakura to hold onto her trunk for her, since his hands were free, and got out her own wand so that Harry didn't drop anything.

"Everyone ready?" The teens all nodded and Hermione took a breath. "Ok. _Portus._"

The bits of metal that were still visible through the mass of hands glowed blue for an instant, then the familiar (to some of them) pull of the portkey caused the world around them to blur out of view as it gently tugged them though space with a jolt.

Very suddenly, the group was standing on the outskirts of the Hogwarts grounds. Harry looked around gratefully, glad that he was finally back at the school. He caught sight of Malik and had to hide a smile.

The slightly green looking Egyptian caught his glance and gave a weak grin. "I have decided," he began, his smile fading with another small onslaught of green tint, "That I don't like portkeys."

"It takes some getting used to." Ron said sympathetically. "The motion-sickness should fade soon..."

Malik nodded, giving a thumbs up. "I'll be ok."

Harry grinned. "Floo powder is even worse." He mentioned, remembering the first time he flew through the fireplace grates the wrong way into Knockturn Alley.

Malik grimaced at the thought, then turned to face the castle. "So that's Hogwarts, huh?"

"It's huge! Yugi exclaimed, his eyes glittering with excitement. "It looks almost like one of those German castles that the kingdoms in fairytales are based off of! That's really cool!"

Malik smirked. "So, is it bigger or smaller than Kaiba's mansion, do ya think?"

"About the same size, but still, that's pretty big..." Yugi replied cheerfully. "Come on, let's go!"

He led the way towards the castle, followed by the rest of the group. Hermione, being the one in the group who had actually read Hogwarts: A History, began readily answering any questions that Malik and Yugi asked her.

Bakura stayed mostly silent, only putting in a comment or two here or there, but the spark in his eyes showed that he was just as interested in this as the others.

Passing by Hagrid's hut and the Forbidden Forest, Harry thought he caught a glimpse of a Duel Monster of some sort peering out at him from the trees. He had the feeling that Hagrid's next Care of Magical Creatures class was going to be very interesting indeed.

Finally, they reached Hogwarts' front door. It opened as they approached, revealing a line of teachers waiting for them. As the six of them approached the smiling teachers, a man standing between all the others stepped forward and gave them a slight bow.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Yugi, Malik, and Bakura. I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster."

Malik shot Harry a questioning glance, wondering how the man had known his name, and Harry shrugged at him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Malik said politely. Bakura nodded with a smile, and Yugi grinned up at him.

Dumbledore gestured behind him. "Please, come with me. We have much to talk about."

The six teens did so, walking a few paces behind the headmaster as they walked through the stone walls, lit by torches that were placed regularly along the hall.

For a moment, Malik began to stare off into outer space, his eyebrows furrowed in worried remembrance of an underground living area in Egypt. The moment was broken, however, when they came across a window, looking out over the grounds, and Malik smiled.

Yugi touched his shoulder. "You ok?"

Malik started, not realizing he had stopped briefly by the window. He began to walk again. "Fine, thanks, Yugi."

Yugi watched him worriedly for a second before also resuming the walk.

Soon, the group reached a stone gargoyle that seemed to be guarding a slight arched indent in the wall. Dumbledore stepped up to it while the three teens from Domino looked at each other in slight confusion, wondering why this statue had any importance.

They had their answer a moment later, when Dumbledore stated, "Tootsie Roll."

The gargoyle sprang aside, revealing a doorway. Dumbledore swept through this entrance without a second look at his guard, and the rest followed quickly, three of them staring slightly at the statue for a moment before doing so.

"Tootsie Roll?" Bakura mouthed to the three teens that were actually used to this place. Harry shrugged with a grin.

Ron also grinned, and twirled his finger around his ear several times to indicate 'crazy in the head'.

After they passed, Yugi turned to look at the doorway in time to see the gargoyle walking slowly back to its original place guarding the door. It gave him a look that plainly said, "What are you looking at?" before turning its back on him and settling into place.

Yugi blinked, then caught up to the others.

The group entered Dumbledore's vast office, which was filled with portraits of sleeping wizards. Yugi, Malik, and Bakura ignored the pictures at first, thinking them to simply be an odd choice of decoration for an office, but then they noticed the snoring sounds issuing forth from the paintings, and they noticed that every now and then the subject of the picture would shift in his or her chair slightly to make themselves more comfortable.

Dumbledore gave the sleeping portraits no mind, instead sweeping into the center of the room where there was a desk and turning to face the teens that were following him and offered them a seat.

(A/n: ... Wait, he offers six teens a seat? Musical chairs...)

Once they were seated, the headmaster took a seat himself behind the desk.

Dumbledore smiled at everyone, then began to speak. "For now, I speak only for myself and this school, but I am sure that when the Ministry of Magic comes to their senses, I will have spoken for the entire wizarding community when I say that I offer you my sincere thanks for the great service you have done for us in defeating Lord Voldemort."

Ron winced at the name and Hermione elbowed him. Malik muttered under his breath almost inaudibly, "Voldemort was easy; Yami Bakura was the hard part." And Yugi elbowed him. Dumbledore began to speak again.

"As you all may know, the Hogwarts grounds and the school itself has had a very interesting field trip into what is known as the Shadow Realm for the past few weeks." The six exchanged amused glances at Dumbledore's phrasing. "And while we were there, the teachers and I have made extensive studies into our school's library to find out more information, as well as speaking to a few of the Duel Monsters who take residence there."

Yugi smiled at the headmaster. "Did you find anything useful?"

Dumbledore smiled back at him and inclined his head in a small nod. "Yes, but there was only one text, and it was written in Egyptian. Often, communicating with our duel monster friends was harder than just trying to translate for ourselves, being as quite a few of them didn't trust us with information.

"As it was, it took several translation spells to get anything out of it that wasn't unintelligible babble... And I quote from one of our earlier translations:" he picked up a sheet of parchment and read, "'thousand years sieve to the world to destroy there millenia, which steered the color of plays, which threatened.'" He raised an eyebrow at the teens.

(A/n: I used Babelfish to mess up a phrase from YGO. Something along the lines of "There are seven Millennium Items that control the shadow games that once threatened to destroy the world."...)

The teens giggled a little, then looked up again to see what it was that the headmaster had found.

"Once the translation issues were cleared up, we learned several things about certain 'Millennium Items'." He nodded at Yugi's clearly visible Puzzle. "But the one that interests me the most is that only certain 'chosen' people can use or even handle these items."

The three Millennium Item holders nodded. "The only exception is if you beat the chosen holder in a shadow game." Malik supplied.

Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. But this brings up another point. Does the magic you wield come solely from the items you carry? Being as you must be chosen before you can have them, I believe that this is not the case. I believe that the three of you also have part of the magic within you."

Yugi, Bakura, and Malik glanced at each other. Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed silent. "Go on..." Yugi said.

"As you may have gleaned from the name of the school, or from the fact that these three have probably already told you, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry teaches the use, control, and origins of magic. Only those who have magic within them can actually attend the school. Normally, the three of you should have been identified as having magic by the Ministry of Magic at the age of 10, and sent to the nearest school to learn to use it."

"I didn't complete the Millennium Puzzle until about a year or so ago." Yugi said.

"I got my Millennium Ring about... 3 years ago, I think." Bakura said.

Malik nodded slowly. "I've guarded over the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Necklace with the rest of my family for all my life, but I didn't actually own the Millennium Rod myself until I was almost 11."

"It's possible, then, that the magic within you was dormant until the time that you found your Millennium Items, and the scans that look for children 10 and below with magic missed you completely. Because of this, it's still likely that many schools will not take you, thinking that your magic comes only from the Millennium Items, and has nothing to do with you. Or they may think that you are too old to learn magic. I, however, am willing to accept you as students here if you wish, and if the school near you will not have you."

"That would be awesome!" Ron burst out. "Maybe you'd be in Gryffindor with us!"

Yugi and Bakura smiled, but Malik looked unsure. "That'd mean missing out on normal schooling, though. I joined up at school in Domino because I wanted to get an education. I realize that this magic stuff would be interesting, but... You know, somehow I don't think the colleges are going to accept N.E.W.T. scores instead of SAT scores..."

"You say that is if you thought you were actually doing well enough in school to graduate from High School, Malik." Yugi joked. Malik stuck his tongue out at him.

"He does have a point, though." Hermione mentioned. "I came from a muggle family and I had also been going to a muggle school before I came to Hogwarts. That's one of the main things my parents worried about when they let me come here, was my getting a college education. But Hogwarts teaches many of the same things as normal school does; it just teaches them in a different way, one that has to do with magic. And as for SAT scores, you can take that when you get back, I suppose."

Malik still wasn't convinced. "Yeah, I suppose. But there's another thing. I've never before seen magic used the way these guys used it back there... I've gotten used to using my own brand of magic. I get the feeling that Shadow Magic is much different than your magic, and I really don't want to have to wave a silly wand around just to do things I could already do before."

"You wouldn't necessarily have to do that." Hermione answered easily. "You saw how the magic from your Millennium Items was able to power our wands before, and then they were still able to do what they used to do. Yami and Bakura put the Millennium Ring back together without the help from our wands. Even if all of your magic is shadow magic, that's still magic, and it still works with the wands."

Dumbledore nodded. "I made a similar observation myself. But before any arguments break out, let me say first that I do not expect you to decide immediately. The three of you are allowed to contact your families and talk it over with them as well. In the meantime, I hope all six of you will accept my offer to stay here at Hogwarts for the time being, whether you choose to attend school or not. The Ministry will take some time to convince of your good deeds."

All of them nodded gratefully.

"Now, there's only one more matter to settle." Dumbledore added. The teens looked at him expectantly. "You mentioned a Yami Bakura." He stated, looking over at Malik. "Who is he?"

"An annoyance." Yugi spoke up suddenly, his features obviously those of Yami wanting to stick a comment in.

"Annoyance!" Ron burst out. "I think he was more than just an annoyance! He nearly killed the lot of us!"

Yami shrugged and Malik grinned. "You get used to him after a while. Then he's just an annoyance."

"Who just. Won't. Die." Yami stated with a roll of his eyes. "He's like a cockroach."

Ron stared. "Cockroach. Right. Giant poisonous cockroach, maybe!"

"But a roach all the same." Yami pointed out with a smirk.

Bakura gave a small smile. "And you can be sure that if he ever heard you say that, he'd try to kill you... again..." he sweatdropped a little. "And probably lose again, too."

"But where did he come from? And how was he, as you said, more powerful than even Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked them.

Bakura held up the Millennium Ring. "I assume you know of the Pharaoh who locked away the magic of the Shadow Games back in Ancient Egypt?"

Dumbledore nodded. "'Powerful and brave, he sacrificed his own life to seal away the shadows.'" He quoted. "And?"

Yami gave a small smile. "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself properly yet, Professor." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and Yami continued. "My name is Yami. My spirit was locked inside the Millennium Puzzle when the shadows were locked away. Yugi Moto is my friend and my vessel in this time."

"So you are...?"

Malik smirked at the confused expression on the Headmaster's face. "The nameless Pharaoh." he supplied. He grinned at Yami. "The memories of whom my family has protected ever since that time. I am a tomb keeper."

"Even we don't know what his real name is." Yugi said, suddenly emerging once again. "We all call him Yami because when he first appeared, because he looks so much like me, everyone assumed he was simply my darker half. Yami means dark in Japanese."

Yami appeared next to his host in a temporary physical form and nodded at Dumbledore.

The Headmaster looked slightly flustered for a moment before regaining his composure and smiling at Yami. "Well, then. I welcome you to Hogwarts as well, Pharaoh Yami."

Yami nodded again.

"So Yami is the spirit of Mr. Moto's Millennium Item... I assume, then, that this Yami Bakura is the 'dark' of Mr. Bakura?"

Bakura nodded. "He was a tomb robber in Egypt. He battled one of Pharaoh Yami's priests, a man named Maahado who owned the Millennium Ring at the time, and won. Maahado's spirit was sealed into his ka monster, the Dark Magician, and Yami Bakura got the Millennium Ring."

"Which explains the rivalry between Yami and him. Pharaoh and Thief aren't supposed to get along." Malik said. "Especially when said Thief robs your father's tomb and throws his mummy at you, then battles your friend and seals him away."

Yami frowned. "That and the fact that he's an annoying cockroach."

"Well, that too."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Yami Bakura continued to try going against Yami for the longest time, using my body since he didn't have his own anymore. Then he met Voldemort."

Harry Ron and Hermione nodded and began to tell their story of the happenings in Domino, the other three teens inserting their own point of views when they deemed it necessary.

When they finished, Dumbledore smiled. "Well, congratulations on your victory, all of you. I have one final question, and then you can go. We have a meal prepared for you in the Great Hall." He turned to Malik. "Does the Millennium Rod carry any spirits within it, like these other two?"

Malik shook his head. "No, but I do have a dark side, so to speak."

Yami smiled ruefully. "Ah, yes. Poor Malik is schizophrenic."

Malik glared at him. "I am not! It's your fault anyway."

"I didn't do a thing. I didn't ask Shadi to lie to you, and I certainly didn't ask your father to be such a son of a-"

"Yami!" Yugi frowned at him. Malik and Yami stuck their tongues out at each other, and then laughed. The issue, though sprouted from a touchy subject, had become somewhat of an inside joke for the two of them.

Dumbledore looked from one to the other with one eyebrow raised, then he shrugged. "Ah, I believe I'll ask you more about your... interesting pasts later. For now, let's go get some food."

They all agreed.

(Poinky-Dead-Divider)

* * *

"Alaric, Benjamin." Professor McGonagall's voice rang out in the Great Hall, announcing the first name to go up and be sorted for the late year. 

The scared looking boy went up and put the hat on his head, which paused for a moment before calling out "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Yugi, Malik, and Bakura stood at the end of the line of first years excitedly, wearing their new robes that a few of the teachers had purchased for them in Diagon Alley, since they couldn't go out of Hogwarts without being set upon by Ministry of Magic workers.

There had been a lot of commotion about the whole thing in the Daily Prophet a week or so back; but seeing as the Ministry didn't want to admit that Voldemort had returned or that they had all gotten beaten up by a bunch of death eaters, OR that the ones who had actually taken Voldemort down and saved the Ministry of Magic from being killed by the death eaters were a bunch of teenagers, three of which had had no previous magical education, the Ministry hushed everything up fairly quickly.

(A/n: That was one sentence. O.o)

Not even people like Rita Skeeter could get any information on any of it.

"Bekhura, Thomas."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Bentley, Claire."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Hartman, Kirsten." The girl whose name was called twitched and muttered something about being called "Kirstie" not "Kirsten" and put the hat on, getting sorted into Slytherin.

"Jobe, Lisa."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Kaiba, Mokuba." Yugi, Malik, and Bakura gave the nervous looking boy a thumbs-up.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Kuroi, Ebby."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Lemon, Brett."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Makuriirando, Billy."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Mellish, Heather."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Menke, Melissa."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Moore, David."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Nelson, Stephanie."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Redding, Angela."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Rhodes, Sagira."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Richards, Canay."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Simons, Lishara."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Turner, Andrew."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Valentine, Faye."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Wallace, Brian."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Wenschoff, Amy."

"RAVENCLAW!"

(A/n: **MASS CAMEO**! ... Oh, and some made up names. (sweatdrop) I hope I got everybody in there...)

Finally, the names of the first years had been read off, and they had all taken their places among the tables. All that were left to sort were Bakura, Yugi, and Malik.

"We have three new students this year that are not first years. They were missed by the normal means of detecting magic in young students, but their magic is just as powerful as your own, so please do not treat them unkindly." McGonagall said sharply. She looked back down on her list and read, "Bakura, Ryou."

Bakura stepped up to the stool and put on the hat. "GRYFFINDOR!" It called after a moment. Those at the Gryffindor table cheered loudly as he sat by Harry with a smile.

"Ishtar, Malik."

Malik jumped up on the stool and pulled the hat over his eyes. There was a somewhat long pause before it also shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table cheered again and Malik sat beside Bakura with a triumphant grin.

"Moto, Yugi and Moto, Yami."

A few whispers were exchanged at the double name as Yugi climbed up onto the stool. The hat's call was almost instantaneous. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Once again, the table erupted into cheers, and a few of the other students from other tables began to complain about the fact that Gryffindor got all of the 'cool' students. Yugi sat by the rest of his friends.

It was time for the new school year to finally begin!

(Poinky-Dead-Divider)

* * *

(Somewhere back in Domino) 

"..._Avada Kedavera! ...Crucio!_ Why won't this blasted thing work!" the Dark Lord banged his wand against his hand several times before stopping because the end was beginning to emit sparks.

Voldemort screamed in frustration and threw the wand as far as he could get it. Then he whirled on his Death Eaters, who looked slightly worse for wear. They all flinched as his eyes rested on them, and he held out his hand.

"Fine, then, I'll need a new wand, if that one won't work."

The Death Eaters all eyed each other nervously. None of them really wanted to give up their wands, but neither did any of them wish for the Dark Lord to be angry with them.

Wormtail was about to step forward to offer his own wand when suddenly Lucious Malfoy stepped forward. "And what if we don't want to give you ours?" He asked maliciously in a very brave move. "It's not like you can do anything about it right now."

If there were enough death eaters there who would stick by Voldemort even though he was powerless at the moment, then Malfoy would be in trouble...

Wormtail hesitated, then grinned, stepping beside Malfoy once it was obvious that most of the other death eaters would support his sudden stand.

Voldemort looked murderous. It looked like he was going to be having more trouble with this than he really needed...

(Poinky-Dead-Divider)

* * *

Somewhere in the Shadow Realm, an unconscious being awoke to the dismal view of the swirling darkness around him. 

Yami Bakura sat up with a growl, instinctively curling and jumping to his feet, his right hand going for his hidden knife and his left reaching up to clench the cord of a Millennium Item he suddenly no longer had possession of.

When he realized that the Ring was gone, and that he was still in the mortal body he had created for himself, he screamed in frustration, the shadows around him whirling even more swiftly to amplify the angry mood he was in.

He couldn't take refuge in the Millennium Puzzle with this mortal body, and if Bakura still had the Millennium Ring, which he had undoubtedly merged with his own copy to keep Yami Bakura's hands off of it, he couldn't just call the Ring to him.

Yami Bakura glared at the shadows before him, feeling his anger flare up inside of him as he recalled his moments of ultimate power he had experienced before being hit with a _tickling_ _spell_ of all things, and having his advantage once again stripped away from him.

He had come _so close_ to defeating them all and finally gaining the revenge he had been seeking. How could he have gotten so careless! He knew that his opponents were still behind him, and yet he turned his back to them in order to torture those insignificant fleas!

After he let his anger vent by cursing himself and everybody he knew for a while, a smirk appeared on his face as his hand slipped into the pocket of his trench coat and pulled out the Millennium Eye.

The symbol on its front glinted in the nonexistent light with a ringing sheen as the power activated and the shadows before him parted slowly. The Spirit of the Ring let out a dark laugh.

It would be a while before Yami Bakura was up to his old strength again, but he would indeed return. And he would get what he was seeking... this time...

"I am the darkness, Pharaoh... And the darkness never dies..."

(Poinky-Dead-Divider)

* * *

Endes! 

(Cries)

Malik: ... O.o um... are you ok?

Daricio: (shniffle) yeah, I'm just sad that it's over!

Malik: (sweatdrop) um... (patpatpat) It's ok... sequel?

Daricio: Probably not for a while. I'll be in Germany from June 25th-July 17th, so... not much writing going on...

But I do get out of school this Friday! D

Thank you so much to everybody who supported me while I was writing this, including all of you who reviewed! You're the best, all of you!

Thanks especially to my friends: Lisa, B/k, Daisy-san, my little brother DVD and my little sister Shells. You supported, and still support me whenever I needed you. And you always inspire me. Thank you.

Malik: ... Hey, knock off the mushyness.

Daricio: (grin) And thanks to my loverly muses, who keep me insane even when I don't want to be.

Malik: Gee, thanks.

Radley: Were you ever sane, Daricio? I doubt you needed our help for that bit.

Daricio: (hugs him and comes very close to being very hurt)

Malik: (to Radley) Don't worry, we can kill her in her sleep later.

Radley: Good idea.

Daricio: And speaking of muses, B/k you'd better get that computer fixed soon! I miss you!

Bye all! Hope to see you all as I continue writing Where's Yugi and its 'sequel'/rewrite thing-o! ... And my annoying plot bunnies.

. --Daricio


End file.
